ATHERTON LR 2 PRESTWICH HEYS 1

TUESDAY 20TH JANUARY 2026 NW COUNTIES PREMIER DIVISION ATT:172

Report by Rick Barrett
Photos by Bethany Lee

It was a night of drama at Crilly Park, home of Atherton LR, as they ran out 2-1 winners against ten-man Prestwich Heys on Tuesday night.

This was part two of back-to-back games the sides having drawn 0-0 with each other on Saturday and Heys manager Ryan Hutchinson made three changes from the weekends stalemate bringing in Luke Byron, Josh Tinker and Alistair Bracken.

Heys had an early free kick from Luke Byron saved by Atherton keeper Joe Bickerstaffe, but it was the home side quicker out of the blocks, a shot in from the right was well saved by Heys keeper Lee White.

Atherton broke the deadlock on 17 minutes. Striker Joe Bacon, darting through the middle, saw his initial shot saved by White, but he made no mistake with the rebound, slotting home from close range for the opening goal.

The game became scrappy and worse was to follow for the visitors on twenty-two minutes when a chance from a corner for Atherton was saved by White and words were said with an Atherton player. The Heys keeper then raised a hand to the back of his opponent’s head, and the said Atherton player fell quickly to the ground. Referee Daniel Seddik had no hesitation is showing White a straight red and Heys were down to ten men with midfielder Josh Tinker taking over in goal.

Atherton continued to press as the game became untidy with several full-on challenges one notably on Heys Bryson Appleton on twenty-eight minutes, but the referee only saw fit to give a yellow card.

It was no surprise when the hosts went further ahead on thirty-nine minutes, Bacon with another run through the middle found Harvey Brookes, on the left, and he made no mistake firing past Tinker into the bottom right.

Heys only other attempt on goal in the first half was from a Rob Worrall shot, on the left, which went wide of the far post, and the visitors knew they would need to raise it a level in the second half if they were to get anything from this game, especially with ten men.

That's exactly what happened though, Prestwich came flying out of the blocks with urgency and pace and pulled a goal back on fifty-three minutes. Takura Sambizi, with a lovely run down the left, cut inside and slotted bottom right past Bickerstaffe to put the visitors back in it.

Suddenly, it was Heys looking the more dangerous. Worrall had a shot deflected out for a corner as they continued to press, Atherton were still dangerous on the break though and Owen Cushion saw his free kick go over the bar on sixty-seven minutes.

Louis Holt saw a header saved by Atherton keeper Bickerstaffe after great work by on the right from Appleton in the 73rd minute and James Badrock headed over shortly after as Heys hunted the equaliser.

Heys continued to press but Atherton held firm at the back and managed the game well in the final stages and after four minutes of injury time with Heys not managing to find the equaliser they deserved for their second half endeavour the referee blew for full time.

So, defeat it was for Heys with the damage being done in the first half after a sending off that made the task even more difficult than it already was. Credit is deserved though for the second half showing in getting the early goal back and its true Prestwich were the better team for large parts of it to the point where the hosts were happy to see the final whistle.

Heys face another tough away trip on Saturday when they travel to Burscough kick off 3pm.

TEAM: Lee White, Luke Byron, Louie Hutchinson, James Badrock, Alistair Bracken, Joshua Tinker, Bryson Appleton, Robert Worrall, Louis Holt, Nicholas Dre Taylor, Takura Sambizi Subs: Joseph Camozzi (for Byron 79 mins), Luke Mann (for Worrall 83 mins) Jace Osborne (for Hutchinson 45 mins), Alfie Carmichael (for Holt 45 mins), Alfie Belcher