Not for the first time this season the Lions failed to convert the chances they created, as they fell to a late Chorley winner at Victory Park on Tuesday.
Chorley had the best chance of the first half with a penalty, which Steven Drench conceded and then saved, while their second opportunity proved crucial as Josh Hine stuck away a loose ball on 85 minutes after Drench had parried Dale Witham’s effort from outside the box.
Prior to this the first shot of the game came from Chorley and flew just the wrong side of the post but in between times the Lions dominated possession and coped well with a side that had hit Tamworth for six on Saturday. But having failed to convert a host of chances the Lions were hit by the sucker punch with five minutes of normal time remaining.
Wayne Brooksby was first to test Sam Ashton as the keeper struggled to deal with his left foot shot in a first half devoid of many clear openings apart from the penalty incident which should have seen the Magpies take the lead.
Adam Boyes hit the bar with Ashton beaten early in the second half and the keeper pulled off a fine instinctive save shortly afterwards from Oli Johnson.
Boyes then had a shot cleared and saw a fortunate deflection of a defenders leg deny him a clear opening.
Ashton got in the way of a Nicky Boshell shot from twelve yards that he knew little about and inviting balls across the six yard box from Wayne Brooksby, Boyes and Boshell all went begging.
Danny Lowe was a whisker away but hit the side netting to leave the visitors ruing yet another wasted opportunity to put daylight between themselves and the play-off contenders.
Team:
1-Drench
2-Toulson
3-Lowe
4-Holdsworth (Johnson A)
5-Lowe
6-Lawlor
7-Brooksby D
8-Boshell
9-Boye
10-Boshell N
11-Johnson O
