Barnoldswick Town 1 Hanley Town 3

BARLICK were left to rue missed chances as Hanley claimed the spoils to leave the hosts close to the Hallmark Security League top-flight drop zone.

Light rain for most of the morning had left a slick surface as Barnoldswick welcomed back captain James Crorken and Jonathan Hodgkinson after serving one-match suspensions for being sent off.

On the down side Joel Melia was banned having been dismissed in the previous game and Mark Threlfall was also absent through a previous engagement.

Hanley started the better of the two teams without troubling Connor King in the Town goal.

Disaster struck for the hosts in the 26th minute. Having won a corner on the Hanley right, it was driven poorly into the penalty area straight to a defender, who quickly passed the ball up field which left the Town rearguard stretched.

Thomas Ashton, towards the right of the Barlick goal, was tackled around the corner of the six-yard box by Matthew Cavanagh, who was adjudged to have brought him down.

Hanley captain Theo Stair thumped a left-foot shot low just inside King’s left-hand post. Although the keeper guessed right, he was unable to stop Hanley going in front.

Barlick came more into the match as Danny Boyle tried to wriggle his way past four defenders clustered in the six-yard box, two desperate tackles thwarting shots on goal.

Boyle did, however, level things just after the half-hour when a through ball saw him go clear and he slotted home from just outside the penalty area past the advancing Michael Allen into the far bottom corner.

It was all square at half-time but that didn’t last long as Stair scored two minutes into the second half following some sloppy defending by the hosts.

Town had the better of the rest of the game but were unable to put the ball in the net, being guilty of some glaring misses.

Andy Hill almost brought Town level, firing a thunderbolt of a free-kick from 25 yards onto the outside of Allen’s left-hand post. Zack Dale and Harry Thompson also went close.

Town made three substitutions to try to salvage the match, John Beckwith replacing Aaron Hollindrake (70min), Liam Blades – in his first game back after injury – replacing Adam Yates (76) and new signing Alex Doyle replacing Cavanagh (82).

But the match was all over three minutes into injury-time when Hanley substitute Oliver Mellor stooped low to head past King.

Barlick look to make amends at home to AFC Liverpool tonight before an away trip to Barnton on Saturday.