Kirkham & Wesham 0, Norton United 0 (From Blackpool Citizen)

Kirkham & Wesham 0, Norton United 0

12:58pm Thursday 24th April 2008

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KIRKHAM & WESHAM'S promotion push took a temporary halt at Kellamergh Park on Monday, when visitors Norton United notched their third scoreless draw on the road in consecutive matches.

But Kirkham should, and could have gone ahead as early as the sixth minute but the usually reliable leading scorer Sean Paterson missed a golden chance to put his side in front from the penalty spot.

And it was Paterson who created the chance too being up-ended inside the box by United keeper Gary Goodwin.

Most in the crowd were not so much surprised that Kirkham were awarded a penalty but that Goodwin was allowed to stay on the field after being shown what many thought should have been a red card, which was in fact yellow.

But Paterson's missed his first spot kick of the season which was well saved by Goodwin who went on to make a string of fine saves throughout the match to thwart Kirkham's promotion push.

Manager Mick Fuller in all fairness rested a number of his key players in a bid to help their hectic end of season schedule but the loss of two vital points wasn't what he expected.

He said later: "It was a shame we didn't win tonight as a lot of people came to watch us, but you have to give Norton some credit.

"They worked hard all night to get men behind the ball and it worked for them.

"I had hoped that we might have got three points but the promotion celebrations will have to wait a few days."

Substitute Mark Wane had the best chance for Kirkham, after Paterson's early miss to rescue three points with a powerful header on the whistle but Goodwin made the save of the night to palm his effort wide and in a frenzied bid to grab a late winner skipper Dougie Shaw could have got on the scoresheet from the resulting corner but headed over in front of goal.

Norton's best chance in a rare attack came after 68 minutes from a delightful three man move on the left started by Liam Rigby and Steve Allen, only for big burly blonde haired striker James Dunn to blast his shot over the top.

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