Stormy stalemate between Lancaster City and Worksop Town

The two sides couldn’t be separated on a wet afternoon at The Giant Axe, but the Dolly Blues hit the woodwork on three occasions.

Following the hard work of club officials and volunteers, the Giant Axe passed a morning pitch inspection.

This clash between eighth and third in the NPL Premier Division was one of very few football fixtures in North Lancashire to be given the go ahead amidst the disruption that Storm Bert was causing.

Andre Mendes prevented the hosts from suffering a tumultuous start to proceedings, saving Aleksandrs Starcenko’s low effort after the Latvian was played through.

The Tigers had started well and threatened again on the 11th minute after some great build up play, but Vaughan Redford fired over.

Around 10 minutes later, Regan Hutchinson fouled Lewis Mansell around 25 yards from goal, which set up an Aaron Bennett effort from a direct free kick.

It smashed against the crossbar and went over; City’s number 10 was agonisingly close to making it five goals in three games.

Not long after, there was a clear coming together between Nic Evangelinos and Hutchinson, already on a yellow after fouling Mansell, in the Worksop Town box but the referee only pointed for a corner, much to the dismay of the Lancaster contingent.

The Dolly Blues hit the woodwork for the second time in a five minute period when Sam Bailey sent a corner in from the left.

Harrison Beeden met it and the ball hit the centre of the crossbar before crashing back down and being cleared away by the Worksop backline.

Brayden Shaw, the eventual Player of the Match for the second consecutive weekend, looked to revive play after the clearance but his shot from outside the box was wide.

At the other end of the pitch, Andre Mendes did well to claim the ball twice in the space of a minute to deny both Aaron Martin and Luke Shiels the opener.

With six minutes of the first half remaining, Nic Evangelinos found himself in yards of space after a pass from Lewis Mansell, but was unable to find the back of the net with his strike, Worksop’s ‘keeper Tommy Taylor comfortably saving it instead.

Much like in Morpeth last weekend, the Dolly Blues hit the ground running in the second half, some great work between Lewis Mansell and Charlie Bailey led to a goalscoring opportunity but Tommy Taylor dealt with it after Mansell pulled the trigger.

Taylor was not so comfortable four minutes later though, as he dropped the ball following a looping cross. Nic Evangelinos was there at close range to get a shot away but his effort was saved by Taylor, who recovered and spared his blushes.

City’s pressure continued as the opening 10 minutes of the second half went on, a pinpoint long ball from Lewis Coulton found Lewis Mansell - he and Aaron Bennett combined to set up Charlie Bailey, but he saw his effort deflected.

Dylan Thompson delivered a perfect through ball to Nic Evangelinos but the number 11’s shot found the wrong side of the post.

The game began to fizzle out midway through the second 45 but Lancaster’s substitutes helped bring the game back to life somewhat late on.

Josh Abbott has been thoroughly impressive for the Dolly Blues since his arrival last month, bringing a real creative spark to games when he has started or made an impact from the bench.

Saturday was no different, he and fellow substitute Marcus Cusani linked up well on a couple of occasions as they tried to force openings in the Worksop rear guard, one of the best chances of the final 20 minutes was when Cusani fired over from an Abbott ball across the face of goal.

Another substitute who Lancaster fans were delighted to see being brought on was Jamie Mellen, who replaced Nick Evangelinos in the 87th minute. Mellen has been out of action since his injury against Workington in August and, in contrast to the weather, received a warm reception from fans.

Sam Bailey served up some late drama at The Axe as what looked intended to be a cross almost found the back of the net, the ball looping to Taylor’s right hand side and onto the centre of the left post.

So no goals but chances aplenty for Lancaster City, who limited a team striving to finish best of the rest - behind a rampant Macclesfield - to few chances. It’s a second clean sheet for Andre Mendes and his backline.

Chris Willcock will be hoping to continue this good run of form when his side travel to Whitby Town on Saturday, November 30.