The injuries that have haunted the club this season still persist and although the situation seems to be easing a little and players are coming back for selection, invariably they are having to get match minutes when thrown back in at the deep end to replace other absences, which is not the ideal solution. Lee Parle, Mike Garrity, Tom Spearitt and Carl Furlong are obvious examples.

Peter Ellis has suffered with ankle problems for approximately twelve months and his latest set back has affected him seriously enough to consider taking premature retirement. He has been a tremendous servant to the club and deserves due recognition for that and best wishes go to him. He has agreed to remain registered with the club and hopefully, if the chronic nature of the injuries ease sufficiently with appropriate rest, he will assist the club in the future should his services be required.

Lee Kissock is still recovering from his broken fibula sustained against Vauxhall Motors during the Conference Cup game in early November. Martin Molyneux, since the same Vauxhall game, has not kicked a ball and hopefully his shin complaint will be healed by the turn of the year. Robbie Moore [pelvic strain] and Kieron Durkan [hamstring] are still out and may be until the New Year.

Steve Carragher was on the bench yesterday after his chest infection but David Ness was laid low with a bug on the morning of the game. Ged Courtney was on a one game suspension [sending off at Barrow] for the same game. Anton Lally will not be available over the Festive period due a long standing commitment and as such was not considered yesterday.

With a scoreline that flattered Droylsden, Runcorn lost their 5th Nationwide North match in a row. Droylsden managed to open the scoring after just one minute. Jimmy Turner equalised in the 26th minute, but Droylsden scored in the last seconds of the first half with a goal that most supporters seemed to think should have been called offside.

In the 60th minute Droylsden went down to 10 men, but Runcorn were unable to make much of an impression, with Droylsden scoring their third ten minutes later.

The game was characterised by small mistakes undoing solid build up play, so hopefully the New Year will bring a much needed change of fortune and see the numerous injuries the squad is carrying clear up.

Match Report

A first half goal from Worcester was equalised by a James Lock goal, but in the dying minutes of the game Worcester managed to score a second.

Match Report

Runcorn conceded a goal to Southport, managed by Runcorn's ex-manager Liam Watson, in the 25th minute when a parry from Tony McMillan wasn't collected quickly enough and was guided into the net at close range by Terry Fearns. Southports defense was impressive, and Runcorn lacked the bouncebackability to get the all important equaliser. Southport had most of the chances, compared to just a handful from Runcorn, but they were unable to convert them into goals due to miss-kicks and deflections from their own strikers. Ex-Runcorn striker Kevin Leadbetter got Southports second goal with practically the last kick of the match.

It wasn't until 13 minutes into the second half that the deadlock was broken and Nuneaton went into the lead. Until this point, both teams had made a few chances, but neither looked overly dangerous. Fifteen minutes later, Nuneaton scored their second, and despite concerted effort, Runcorn were unable to find the back of the Nuneaton net.

It's not all bad news though. This match saw the welcome return of Tom Spearritt after his time out through injury.

Match Report