GERRY Luczka’s men dug out a point on Easter Monday against the side which knocked them out of the Manchester Premier Cup two weeks ago.

There was no repeat of the semi-final encounter in which two players from both sides were dismissed following a 21-man brawl as the Manchester club beat Boro 2-1.

Radcliffe fell behind on eight minutes and, for once, you could hardly blame them for slack defending.

Trafford scored from a superbly executed training-ground set piece which saw Scott Metcalfe cleverly square his free kick when everyone was expecting a cross into the penalty area.

Kyle Harrop had the time and space to pick his spot in the top corner to give the hosts the lead.

With a blustery wind blowing round Shawe View, free-flowing football was at a premium, but Boro equalised with the best piece of football of the game on 40 minutes.

The classy Chris Makin played the ball out from the back and Mark Connor and Ben Wharton combined to set up captain Mark Jones who placed the ball perfectly in off Tom Read’s far post.

Boro smelled blood and they piled forward just before the interval as Martyn Forrest rounded off a spell of pressure by forcing a fine save from Read on 41 minutes.

A minute later, the visitors should have been ahead when Jones burst down the right to send over a perfectly-flighted cross which Wharton should have buried, but he got his close-range header wrong and the ball went wide.

Chances were a rarity in the second half, and Boro had only two opportunities to speak of as defences remained on top and the midfield area was crowded.

Ali Brown fired just over for the Stainton Park men on 67 minutes and Wharton was unlucky to see a shot with the outside of his foot drift just wide of the target five minutes later after brilliantly turning his man.

Trafford could have won it six minutes from time when captain Melford Knight found himself in space only to scuff his shot wide from eight yards.

Luczka was happy with a point. He said: “We had to contend with difficult conditions with a bobbly pitch and a swirling wind, and we were the only side trying to play a little football.

“Apart from the goal they scored, they never looked like troubling us.

“We didn’t resort to walloping the ball forward, we tried to play and our equaliser was the result of probably the best free-flowing move of the match.”