Ramsbottom United picked up a useful three points on a rare Friday night fixture at the Harry Williams Riverside Stadium, against a Kendal Town side who edged the first half, but fell away during the controversial second period.
Having pushed a team two divisions above before exiting a cup competition on Saturday, the Rams almost went one better only succumbing to Workington, who are currently sitting eighth in the Evo-Stik Premier League in the league cup on penalties.
Midweek away games are never easy in this league and never more so when they are away on a filthy evening on the dark side of the Pennines against the league leaders. So to come away with a point in any circumstances would have been an achievement.
The Rams could, should and would have got a deserved point out of this game except for an unfortunate mishap by keeper Ashley Shenton. While never reaching the level of performance achieved at Colne, they will know that while to come away empty handed was very disappointing, defeats of this kind are always on the cards in a league in which away games are always a challenge and that the reverse can reasonably be seen as a blip in the upwards trajectory of performance and not a reverse into the despond of the early season.
In front of a healthy Boxing Day crowd of almost 400, the Rams began well but disintegrated as the second half saw the hosts take control and ultimately all three points.
Do not expect to read here words describing a plucky cup performance by a lower league team playing out of their skin and nearly embarrassing their more illustrious visitors. That was not the performance given by the Rams on Saturday.
There are not many dull moments or poor matches to be had at the HWRS Stadium at the moment. If you want to see open enterprising and honest football that is the place to be so it was a bit of a disappointment that the attendance at this riveting match was only just over 200 (four of whom where from Texas).
Make no mistake - from 1 to 11 plus the subs, this was as near a flawless performance as there might be - and in the eyes of this observer the best performance since the great debacle of January 2015.
There was nothing pretty about this victory - in all honesty the Rams will play better this season and lose - but the win, against a high flying and skilled Lancaster team was all the more satisfying for that.
A late start due to the Redditch team enduring a nightmare journey saw the game finish with the visitors wishing they had stayed at home.
Robert Louis Stevenson's Victorian melodrama about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is much more than a story of scientific experimenting going wrong - it begs the question of whether it is the good suppressingthe bad or the bad escaping the virtues of the good.
Three points against a team even lower than the Rams in the league were absolutely essential if the progress in performance, albeit slow and patchy, over the last few games was to be taken as a credible sign of a steady climb up the league towards the play-off positions.
Like Longfellow's little girl when the Rams are good they are very very good but when they are bad they are horrid. What was most disappointing was not that this was a pretty bleak and disjointed showing but that at even that level and with the share of possession they had the Rams should have got something from the game against a Mossley team who were not match better. So this was a poor game spoiled and made worse by arefereeing performance that was consistent only in its mediocrity.
Saturday's postponed FA Trophy 2nd Qualifying Round match between Ramsbottom United and Redditch United has been re-arranged for Tuesday 15th November 2016 with a 7.45pm kick-off.
A mellow performance on a misty afternoon saw the Rams ease through into the next round of the Buildbase FA Trophy much more comfortably than the score line might suggest.
The feral growl of triumph that emenated from the throat of each Rams player at the final whistle followed by the sound celebratory banging of the changing room walls spoke eloquently of how much this win meant after a few trying weeks.
Saturday 24th August 2019 KO 15:00
Tuesday 20th August 2019