Town in march up the table

Sep 18 2008 by Dave Bettley, Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News

RUNCORN Town moved into third place in West Cheshire League Division One after a 3-1 home victory over Christleton on Saturday.

Both teams took time to settle and Town had to wait until the 20th minute for their first real shot, as Ste Latham rattled the crossbar from the edge of the box.

Five minutes later, Town took the lead when a lovely passing move involving Latham and John McEvoy found striker Simon Burton who coolly slotted past the visiting keeper.

Another good passing move five minutes later almost resulted in a second for Town with full-back Mark Toohey playing a great ball down the line for Clint Burton, whose cross was miss-hit in front of goal by Jason Carey.

Carey also saw a shot cleared off the line from another Burton cross, with Christleton's only chance of note being a 30-yard free kick towards the end of the half which sailed into the hands of Karl Wills.

The second half saw much the same pattern of play with Town in control.

Burton made it two 10 minutes into the half, heading home from close range, after Kyle Hamid's corner was headed back towards goal by Jones.

Burton was in inspired form and almost made it three after 64 minutes when he weaved his way through the visitors defence into the box before being denied by a great save from the visitor’s keeper.

Full-back Toohey almost added a third when his miss-hit cross from the right had to be tipped over the bar, with Burton seeing a header from another Toohey cross go straight at the keeper.

Town's third goal came in the 90th minute when Latham delivered a lovely through ball to Burton, who advanced to the edge of the box before finding the net for his sixth goal of the season.

There was still time for Christleton to record a freak goal in stoppage time, when centre-back Paul Holyfield saw his great strike find the net from near the halfway line.