Words: James Ede, Image: David Airey
CHORLEY are looking to bounce back from defeat by Darlington last week when Phil Brown’s Peterborough Sports side visit Victory Park on Saturday.
The ten-men of Chorley fell to a 1-2 loss to the Quakers last weekend and now sit nine points short of the Enterprise National League North play-offs.
Peterborough Sports travel to Lancashire in good spirits after consecutive victories, despite hovering just above the relegation zone in 20th place.
Last Time Out
Andy Preece’s side suffered their tenth defeat of the season last week as Steve Watson’s side took all three points.
The Magpies started the game brightly with Mark Ellis causing trouble for the Darlington defence from set-pieces and they were denied a penalty when Tom Carr was adjudged to have gone down too easily under pressure from Ben Hedley.
Joe Nolan also came close to grabbing his second Chorley goal but the visitors took the lead in the 23rd minute through Cedric Main.
The hosts replied quickly though and were level 10 minutes later, with Harry Ibbitson finding the back of the net from Adam Blakeman’s cross.
But the visitors again took the lead on the stroke of half time as Will McGowan curled an excellent shot over Matt Urwin in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time.
It then went from bad to worse for the Magpies when Ellis received a straight red card just before the hour mark for violent conduct on Toby Lees.
Chances came for Carr and Aidan Rutledge at either end of the pitch in the final 20 minutes but no more goals came as the Quakers ran the clock down for victory.
Chorley are now 13th in the table on 34 points from 26 games.
Opposition Focus
Phil Brown’s side come into this fixture off the back of a big 4-3 win over Macclesfield on Tuesday night at Lincoln Road.
After trailing 3-1 in the first half, goals from Luca Miller, Shaquile Coulthirst and Mustapha Carayol sealed the turnaround and a second three points in a row for the Turbines.
Miller tops the side’s scoring charts so far this season with nine goals in the league. Coulthirst is next with four.
They finished 12th in the National League North last season under the dual management of Michael Gash and Luke Steele, but they were sacked in September with the club bottom of the league, leading to Brown’s appointment. Gash remains at the club as a player/coach.
His previous achievements include getting Hull City promoted to the topflight in 2008 and winning the EFL Trophy and League Two play-offs in a five-year spell at Southend United.
Head-to-Head
The Magpies lost 2-1 at Lincoln Road back in November as goals from Miller and Dan Jarvis were enough to secure victory for Sports, despite Tom Carr’s first-half equaliser.
Chorley were unbeaten against the Turbines last season, winning 0-1 at PIMS Park and drawing 0-0 at home.
The away victory was on the opening day of the 2024/25 campaign, with Momodou Touray’s penalty securing all three points for Andy Preece’s side.
Match Details
Chorley vs Peterborough Sports
Enterprise National League North
Saturday, January 31
3pm kick-off
Victory Park, Chorley, PR7 3DU
