Storks climb to seventh after late show at home

Playing into bright sunshine for the opening half of the encounter, Padiham went a goal down on eight minutes when a left-sided corner arrived at the feet of Lee Duckworth, unmarked on the edge of the Storks’ six-yard box, and he was able to side foot his effort into the corner of an unguarded net.

Drake Pendle then wasted a golden opportunity to put Winsford further ahead four minutes later when he missed what looked like an open goal, and the Storks rode their luck again on 16 minutes after a cross field pass found Robbie Halton in plenty of space on the right, and his angled shot fizzed untouched across the face of the home side’s goal, ending up just wide of the upright.

Further Winsford pressure had to be soaked up before Padiham threatened themselves at the other end, and even then visiting keeper Michael Langley frustrated the Storks with saves to keep out two on-target efforts from Kieron Pickup.

Padiham eventually leveled the scoreline on 34 minutes when Aaron Taylor converted a Mark Coyne pull back to make it 1-1, and they took the lead five minutes before the break after Pickup got the better of Langley, following good approach play by James Dean.

Winsford found themselves back on level terms six minutes into the second half following an unconvincing penalty decision that allowed substitute Kyle Riley to beat Storks keeper Michael Donlon from the spot kick.

It looked like 2-2 would be the final result, as neither side had the cutting edge to earn the three points, but two goals in a minute in the run up to full time changed all that, with Pickup on 84 minutes and Dean on 85 minutes beating Langley, as the Storks moved up to seventh in the table.