North West Counties League

Division One

FC Oswestry Town 2

Bacup Borough 0

Goals either side of half-time were enough to give FC Oswestry Town a crucial win and all three points in their fight to move away from the bottom two.

Town started the day third from bottom, but Jack Harris’s goal halfway through the first half gave them the lead.

Gary Meredith added a second seven minutes after the restart, and Town recorded a rare shut-out to grab only their fourth league win of the season.

The victory lifted them one place but crucially put seven points between themselves and Daisy Hill, who are second from bottom.

Tonight, Town will host Cammell Laird – including former keeper Richard Cowderoy – at The Venue for a 7.45pm kick-off.

On Saturday, they will travel to Atherton LR for a 3pm start.

Meanwhile, joint manager Ryan Butcher has told the league’s official website he feels his side are over their torrid start to the season, with nine straight league defeats.

He insists the poor start was down to a number of reasons.

Butcher said: “We did have a lot of injuries at the start of the season and we did have a lot of new lads in, too, and we struggled to find the right blend as they just didn’t gel.

“We had a lot of lads who came in at the start of the season who played in the Cymru Alliance last season.

“We felt it would be a similar level but a few of them struggled and have now gone back into the Welsh system.

“We started tinkering about with formations but we have stabilised and settled on a formation now, although that might still change a bit depending on the players available.

“Against Daisy Hill, we had nine players missing who would normally be in the squad and they should all hopefully be back.

“So there will be a couple of changes personnel wise but formation wise we will probably look to stay with something on similar lines.”

Butcher said: ”I think our home pitch (the 3G pitch at The Venue) made a difference to the players we had at the beginning of the season.

“They weren’t used to it, but we have gone a little bit more local with the players we have got. They are more used to playing on 3G and I think it has a positive impact now when we play at home.”