Hollinwood denied by last-gasp equaliser

IN CONTROL . . . Hollinwood’s Callum Neville (right).

Hollinwood 1, Leigh Athletic 1

HOLLINWOOD had to settle for a point in their FBT Manchester League Division One clash with Leigh Athletic at Chapel Road when the visitors grabbed a last-minute equaliser.

Callum Neville, on as a 61st-minute substitute for Ruben Abreu, found the target with a six-yard strike to edge Hollinwood ahead, but a defensive error allowed Leigh to level in the dying seconds of the game.

This has been a disappointing season for Hollinwood, thanks to a six-point deduction when Wigan Robin Park resigned from the league earlier this season.

Hollinwood had already beaten them twice and had to accept the points penalty - which club secretary Ken Evans found hard to take.

“If we still had those six points then we would still have been challenging for honours with a couple of games still left to play,” he said.

“It’s irrelevant now, but it seemed to affect us more than other teams. Against Leigh I think a draw was probably a fair result, even though they scored late.”

Hollinwood will now build for next season and hopefully emulate the success of Uppermill, who won promotion.