Colne lifted themselves out of the bottom four at the foot of the table with a convincing win over fellow-strugglers Glossop on Tuesday night. The result sees the Reds leapfrog over their opponents to give themselves a much better chance of climbing the table and reaching a respectable position by the end of the season.
On the night, it was Glossop who started the better of the two sides with some quick attacks and dangerous free kicks into the Colne penalty area. But Colne’s new signing Jake Forshaw almost made a dream debut when he nipped in past the static Glossop defence to chip the ball towards an empty net but his angled shot went just wide. And as Colne produced more attacking ideas, Lucas Weaver saw his header well held by North End keeper Jaden Bevan.
But Glossop looked dangerous going forward and Nathan Valentine saw his shot on the turn saved by the feet of Colne keeper Hakan Burton.
After 18 minutes, a stray back-pass by the North End defence let in Owen Watkinson to the right of goal and his low cross found Forshaw in the goalmouth and when his shot was blocked, Luke Stowe fired the loose ball into the top corner of the net to give Colne the lead.
Two minutes later, Colne put the visitors under pressure again with a high cross into their goalmouth which the North End defence struggled to clear and Weaver forced the ball home from close range
to double Colne’s lead at 2-0.
Glossop looked for a quick reply and Jacques Etia saw his shot well saved by Burton after a good run on the left wing. But as Colne looked for a third goal, Watkinson and Forshaw came close with shots from inside the North End area and Weaver saw his chip to the far post fly inches over the bar.
As Colne pressed forward from the kick off of the second half, Stowe’s through ball released
Watkinson to the bye line inside the Glossop area and his low cross was fired home by Weaver to give the Reds a three goal lead. But five minutes later, Weaver pulled up with a hamstring injury and was substituted.
Minutes later, Forshaw looked likely to score as he embarked on a run through the middle of the visitors defence but Glossop keeper Bevan did well to block his shot. And on the hour, a Colne free kick was headed down in the North End area for Watkinson who saw his shot saved by the keeper’s feet. And two minutes later in the end to end play, Burton did well to punch a high ball away under pressure at his far post in a Glossop attack.
Burton made a good save to keep out Harry Freedman’s shot when he burst into the Colne penalty area while at the other end Bevan did well to prevent Forshaw from scoring after Craig Carney had sent him on an attacking run with a through ball.
Colne ran out comfortable winners and will hope to build on this result which hopefully will signify a change in fortune for the Reds.