Oswaldtwistle Immanuel were beaten by a cruel late free kick in the Blackburn Sunday League's equivalent of the Old Firm Derby.
The build up to the match was dominated by the news that Graham Harrison had been struck down by illness and Daniel 'Celery Bones' Mooring was once again getting his money's worth out of his National Insurance contributions.
On a positive note, however, Sunday's match saw the return from injury of John Spencer.
Clayton-le-Moors was buzzing with excitement at the prospect of this match and Immanuel went in to the game confident that they could break the hoodoo that Stanley Ultras have held over them over the last year or so.
It couldn't have started better for the men in red and yellow. Andy Dewhurst scoring in his third successive game to give Immanuel a 1st minute lead after the Ultras goalkeeper had already twice denied what looked like certain goals. Immanuel didn't stop there and by the end of the first 10 minutes, Stanley Ultras 36 feet tall goalkeeper had made numerous top drawer saves to keep his side. Was this to be another day of frustration for Parky, whose had spent the week having nightmares about the man who had single handedly kept Immanuel out back in February.
Stanley Ultras started to get a foothold in the game though, and they were rewarded as an Ultras forward cleverly used his shin to flick it into the opposite corner of the net to where he was seemingly aiming and the scores were level.
Parity was not to last long. The monster in goal spilled a Stephen Mooring free kick and Spencer took advantage of the loose ball to set Matthew Hodgkiss up for his second of the season. Matthew Hodgkiss now certainly above Toby in the 'Everybody's Favourite Hodgkiss' stakes, although Simon is still a clear leader.
Minutes later Stanley Ultras were back on level terms though, and after a hard fought first half the scores were 2-2.
The second half brought much of the same as the two teams went toe to toe and although players got heated, it was all just the passion of the game as two sides that have been used to winning games comfortably were not having it all their own way for a change.
As they approached the full time whistle it looked like the goal that Ultras had got midway into the second half was going to be the difference. That was before the drama.
A free kick out wide was put in the box was inexplicably handled by the Stanley Ultras central midfielder despite it clearly being too high to be of any danger. Obviously, the one muscle that said midfielder hadn't been working out was the vital one between the ears!
Nathan Berry dispatched the penalty to earn Immanuel their first ever point against their Hyndburn rivals. Or so they thought. A foul on the edge of the box by Tom Leach gave the Ultras the chance to snatch victory and didn't they take it? The free kick smashed past the helpless Matt Cook and Immanuel had been defeated in the cruelest manner.
It was hard for Parky to stay positive after such a result but he consoled himself with the knowledge that across Oswaldtwistle there were going to be several players' wives, girlfriends and children were going to have a horrible Sunday afternoon.
