Pilkington 1-3 St Helens Town: underdogs win El Glassico to stay in cup

Sudden death football can often make a mockery of league form and that was clearly demonstrated in this all-St Helens derby encounter, dubbed locally as the El Glassico, at Ruskin Drive on Wednesday night.

Town - lying at the foot of the NWCL first division table - went into this Macron Cup encounter with their neighbours as rank outsiders, having lost both league matches earlier in the season, but rose to the occasion in what developed into a dramatic final few nerve-tingling minutes.

David Platt’s boys seized the initiative shortly before half-time through Lewis Hassan and when Ben Cartwright added a second in the 65th minute, it seemed they were on the brink of a comfortable victory.

But the hosts showed their battling qualities by refusing to throw in the towel and Robert Ablewhite cut the deficit to 2-1 on the 90 minute mark.

It mattered little, however, as Town swept down to the other end of the park, leaving substitute Hal McHugh to seal the issue.

They will now travel the short distance along the Rainford bypass to face NWCL premier division promotion-chasers Skelmersdale United in the next stage of the competition on Tuesday, April 12, kick-off 8:00pm.

It is also a fixture which involves two local clubs who have both graced Wembley in the past - United crushing Dagenham 4-1 in the 1971 FA Amateur Cup, which included a hat-trick by Rainhill-born Ted Dicken, and Town defeating neighbours Warrington 3-2 in the 1987 Wembley showdown.

Teams

Pilkington: Heal, Moore, Parry, Giglio, Cottington, Samson, Perry, Bathgate, Prescott, Cunliffe, Farrar. Subs: Marsh, Merrifield, Presho, Ablewhite, Farr.

Town: Jones, Caddick, Brown, Kamara, Kelly, Clarke, Apperley, Cartwright, Hughes, Hassan, Korie-Butler. Subs: Lea, Onuh, McHugh, Tulomba, Akhigbe-Midu.

Attendance: 138.

On Saturday, Pilkington are away to Daisy Hill (kick-off 3pm) but Town have no league fixture.