Barnoldswick Town 1 Squires Gate 2

Lowly Squires Gate staged a late smash and grab raid to stun Premier Division title challengers Barnoldswick Town at Victory Park on Tuesday night.

Striker Isaac Kusaluka silenced the home supporters by hitting an 87th minute equaliser and then striking the winning goal four minutes into injury time.

He made Town pay dearly for sloppy defending at the end of a match in which they missed a string of chances.

The home side had taken the lead on the hour when Chris Ridehalgh scored from close range after both Aarron Hollindrake and Liam Gar- butt had failed to turn in Paul Fildes’ cross.

The goal seemed to spur Squires Gate on and Kusa- luka had fired one shot over the bar before hitting the equaliser.

A long ball deep into the Town six-yard box was not cleared and Kusaluka poun-ced to fire the ball home.

Town tried to up their game but it became increasingly likely that it would be Gate who would snatch a winner.

The killer blow was struck when Kusaluka hammered the ball home from the corner of the penalty area.

It was a shattering blow for Town who had seen the game snatched from their grasp.

Although Kusaluka stole the limelight with the goals, it was goalkeeper Neil Bees- ley who made the win possible.

He produced a string of fine saves to keep his side in the game as Town carved out a succession of goalscoring opportunities.

During the first half he twice denied skipper Russell Clarke and produced a stunning reflex stop when Liam Garbutt’s shot was deflected by from Town player Tom Benfield.

Ridehalgh had a drive tipped onto the bar and Beesley denied Garbutt with his foot as the lively Paul Fildes repeatedly troubled the home defence.

Skipper Clarke could hardly believe his misfortune when the ball was taken off his toe by Thomas Bartlett after a Liam Blades corner dropped close to the goalline.

The second half started in a similar vain with Garbutt being denied twice more.

One shot was saved by Beesley and the other was blocked by a defender.

When Ridehalgh finally broke the deadlock it was a big relief for Town, but they were unable to capitalise on their breakthrough and Squires Gate made them pay.