Wigton went into this crunch relegation game high on confidence on the back of two excellent winning performances. The Gaffa was able to name an almost unnamed team from the previous week with the only exception being Mike Shaw replacing the absent Greg Turner up front.
Wigton began to dominate the game from the off and within the first few minutes Wigton’s superior passing and movement off the ball was evident as they cut the Burley team to shreds. Mike Shaw was unlucky to see a well placed effort rebound off the cross bar whilst Stephen Trueman was giving the Burley left back a torrid time. Adam Day was also unlucky to not open the scoring when he met a cross from a few yards out but with the goal gaping somehow managed to head the ball over the cross bar. The Burley keeper was also lacking in confidence as he spilt a number of efforts and was relieved to see a shot that spooned over his shoulder fall short of the goal line so that he could recover and gather the ball in.
Grimes meanwhile set out a picnic in his six yard box and was seen sitting on a checked rug tucking into a scotch egg and pork pie as Wigton’s play, with aid of the prevailing gale force wind ensured that Burley remained camped in their own half.
Despite all their dominance Wigton were unable to break the deadlock until the stroke of half time when Darryl turned just outside the edge of the box before hitting a daisy cutter into the bottom far corner.
The Burley team were elated at the fact that they had gone in only a goal down whilst the Gaffa was far from happy with the lack of cutting edge on display in Wigton’s final third of play.
The second half was a different story as the gale force wind allowed Burley to have more of a say in the game and they were able to re-establish some parity in respect of territory however Wigton’s defence remained organised, maintaining a high line and restricting Burley to only a handful of half chances.
Wigton meanwhile remained a threat on the counter attack but were unable to create the amount of chances that their first half dominance had seen them create and as was feared by the Gaffa this came back to hurt Wigton.
Approximately midway through the half a Burley free kick was hit aimlessly towards the edge of the Wigton box which led to the only defensive mistake of the day being punished when everyone seemed to switch off as the ball fell to feet of a Burley player who gave Grimes no chance from 10 yards out.
Wigton continued to show the grit and determination that has been present in their performances since late December as they continued to look for a winner. Burley however got the better of a goal mouth scramble whilst also managing to clear off the line in the dying moments.
Unfortunately, the lack of ability to take our chances resulted in 2 valuable points being dropped meanwhile other results in the division compounded the Gaffa’s misery as despite the draw Wigton still dropped a place in the league standings.
Next week sees the corresponding home fixture against Burley where the Gaffa will be looking for the team to show a more clinical cutting edge to the chances they are able to create but more essentially a victory against fellow relegation battlers.
