Cup specialists at it again

Royton Town 2, Rochdale Sacred Heart 1

ROYTON Town made it through to the third round of the Lancashire FA Shield following a hard-fought victory over Rochdale Sacred Heart at Glebe Street.

And it was Town's knock-out pedigree — they are the current holders of the Bridgewater Office Supplies Manchester League Gilgryst Cup — that once again shone through in what could turn out to be a very interesting season for the club.

Town were fielding a team with many changes from the previous week with manager Phil Haigh attempting to give some fringe players valuable playing time.

It was Haigh's response to a recent run of poor results and several of the regular first team players didn't feature.

Influential centre-back Christian Fraser, a man mountain of a defender, returned to the Town side after a lengthy injury.

Alongside Fraser was debutant Michael Cheetham, who went on to have a highly-encouraging first start for the club.

Town outlined their intent with Jason Titterington almost opening the scoring after seven minutes.

But Sacred Heart showed just how dangerous they could be with a lightning break shortly afterwards and, with the striker about to pull the trigger, Luke Blackman sped across the field to make a superb tackle.

A fairly even encounter tilted in Town's favour five minutes before half-time when Wayne Dean capitalised on defensive hesitancy as he slid in to score from six yards.

And it was 2-0 to Town on the stroke of half-time when Carl Beamish fired the ball home from 12 yards.

Sacred Heart were handed a lifeline in the 63rd minute when Blackman was harshly adjudged to have handled the ball in his own area and the visitors tucked away the resultant spot-kick.

It was a sometimes tense last period for Town, but central defender Fraser, as he had done throughout the game, ensured that his defensive colleagues held firm.

Haigh was delighted that his team selection and the reasons for it had paid off.

He said: "We did not play well.

“But it was pleasing to get the result with some new faces in the side."

Town will now face either Dalton United or Burnley United in the next round.

ROYTON TOWN: Mullen, Blackman, Hatton, Fraser, Cheetham, Taylor, Brooks, Greenidge, Dean, Titterington, Beamish. Subs: Caffrey, Moss, Hulme.