Falcon Pine FC put themselves in with a great chance of promotion from a very evenly balanced division 2 by beating rivals Stirk Bridge by a convincing 6-1 margain.

 

Pine started strongly with player manager Bob Bartle, along with stand in captain Jonny Brownridge both leading by example by being very up for the game. However both players were to take their enthusiasm too far by earning a yellow card each later in the game.

 

After several minutes Pine opened the scoring with a quality strike from top scorer Wayne Crossley and although Pine dominated much of the 1st half they were up against a strong wind which meant Stirk were always a threat.

 

Stirk forced Falcon into conceding a series of free kicks and shortly before half time Stirk were rewarded for their efforts when they scored a fine header from another hotly disputed free kick.

 

1-1 was the half time scoreline and Pine were hopeful of re taking charge of the game after the break, however against the wind Stirk gave Pine a few real scares as they threw everything forward in a 10 minute spell.After that onslaught, sub Assd Qureshi was introduced for the last half hour and Pine seemed to gel.

 

Adam Probets grabbed his 10th goal of the season to put Falcon in the lead following good work by man of the match Dave Baggley and soon after strike partner Crossley was to add his second.

 

Pine who were without 4 regulars, showed they have real strength in depth as they then went on to win 6-1 with a further 2 goals from Crossley who grabbed his 4th of the game and Scott Allinson was fortunate to score an open goal towards the end of the game.

 

On this form, Pine look good for promotion but Stirk are still also in the frame and will be looking forward to the exchange fixture in just three weeks