Brave performance in a 3-2 defeat - Curzon Ashton 3 v 2 TRAFFORD
Trafford's brave and battling performance came to nothing as they fell to a 3-2 defeat at fifth placed Curzon Ashton on Saturday.
Garry Vaughan's young side never quite reproduced the sustained intensity of Tuesday night's excellent victory at Bamber Bridge and gifted Curzon the lead after 13 minutes when Liam Wheeler's weak back header was collected by Steve Moore who cooly placed the ball past the advancing Greg Hall.
John Buckley cracked a 25 yard volley straight at David Carnell as Trafford sought the equaliser and they were rewarded for their efforts in the 22nd minute when full back Steve Mason found Tom Bentham on the right, continued his run into the box and planted a superb header into the bottom corner.
Tom Bentham then volleyed wastefully over from 15 yards and squandered a great chance of putting Trafford ahead in the 28th minute when his first time shot from close range was pushed behind by Carnell.
Substitute Cedric Krou saw his shot saved by Carnell and Bentham blasted a 30 yard drive straight at the keeper as the visitors dominated but it was Curzon who went closest to snatching the lead when Tunji Moses crashed a drive against the crossbar seconds before half time.
The opening minutes of the second half were closely fought but Curzon were gifted a second goal in the 54th minute when Nia Bayunu was harshly adjudged to have tripped McDonagh who then dispatched the penalty past the despairing Hall.
Phil Edghill the drove wide and McDonagh headed inches past the back post as Trafford struggled to recover from this setback and in the 72nd minute weak defending allowed Tunji Moses the space and time to drive low into the bottom corner from 20 yards.
In the 85th minute the visitors were thrown a lifeline when home centre half Adam Jones pulled Danny Shannon back as the speedy striker threatened to break clear down the middle. Jones was sent off and Joe Shaw stepped forward to blast the resultant free kick hard and low past Carnell.
Trafford now poured forward in search of the equaliser but were desperately unlucky when, in the fourth minute of injury time, John Buckley crossed from the right and Liam Wheeler crashed his header against the upright from eight yards.
Despite this setback Trafford emerged from the game with great credit and can go into Tuesday night's encounter with Radcliffe Borough at Shawe View with great confidence.
