They say when you’re at the wrong end of the table, nothing goes your way and there was plenty of evidence of that at Adie Moran Park as Heys lost to a Tom Croughan goal, which should have received the assistant referee’s offside flag, writes Paul Thomason.

It was a lively opening first few minutes with a couple of half chances for either side but not long after, a well organised Lower Breck side started to take control of the game, enjoying most of the possession.

The first big controversial point came ten minutes in as Heys lost the ball in the middle of the park, and a long ball was played to Croughan in an offside position. Everyone in the ground expected the flag to go up as he appeared about five yards off, but it never materialised and the striker went through to slot it past Sullivan to open the scoring, to howls of derision from the home crowd.

It was after the goal that Lower Breck started dominating the ball but both sides struggled in the opposing final thirds of the pitch and it took until the 21st minute for Heys to create their best chance so far when Luke Mann cut inside from the left OF the penalty area before pulling the ball back but it was cleared away.

Five minutes later, Heys registered their first shot on target as Dylan Fitzgerald won the ball from the Lower Breck skipper, Connor Millington around thirty-five yards out, and shot from around twenty-five yards but it was right at the ‘keeper.

There was more controversy in the 43rd minute. Erike Sousa broke on the right as Heys had the two-on-one advantage on the Lower Breck defence and squared the ball to new signing Finley Stafford who slotted home. However, the assistant referee’s flag went up and the goal was chalked off. It was a very tight call and the home supporters for a little while at least would have been wishing VAR was available at this level!

Lower Breck did enjoy the majority of the possession in the first half and managed the game well. Despite the controversy, it could be argued they deserved to be ahead.

Heys made a stronger start to the second half and Finley Stafford was almost in on goal, but the offside flag went up. There was also a scramble in the box at the other end of the pitch, but nothing came of it.

A low shot from Croughan in the 57th minute was comfortably saved by Sullivan and that was Lower Breck’s final chance of the game as Heys went in search of an equaliser and there was a good chance sixteen minutes later as a Regan Jarrett’s long throw was headed over the bar by Stansfield.

Neither team could take control of the second half and struggled to create any openings and Prestwich’s best chance came just two minutes from time as there was another scramble in the box. There were loud calls for a Lower Breck handball, but the referee waved it away. On another day, that could have been given.

Heys’ luck was topped off in the final minute as a challenge from Stansfield saw the Lower Breck players rush in and the aftermath resulted in a red card for the Heys Captain for apparently kicking out at a Lower Breck player, when there didn’t appear to be a lot in it.

On another day, the result of this game could have been a lot different. It lacked quality on both sides but when you’re near the bottom, you just need that bit of luck. Unfortunately, today, that luck went to the visitors, but the Heys team can take pride that they matched a side near the top of the table and overall deserved more from this game.

Team: Bradley A Sullivan, Finley Stanyer, Regan Jarrett, Noah Inneh, Kian Sharples, Shay Stansfield (capt.), Erike Sousa, Gabriel Mooney-Munoz, Dylan Fitzgerald, Finlay Stafford, Luke Mann, Subs: Adam Dahou (for Stanyer 76), Edward Schryburt (for Inneh 77). Sammy Imessaoudene (for Sousa 61 mins), Jordan Southworth (for Stafford 75 mins), Sonny Reeves (for Mann 75 mins)