Droylsden

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Droylsden 2-0 Fleetwood Town

Droylsden gave themselves a fantastic chance of reaching the Blue Square North play-off final when they defeated Fleetwood Town 2-0 in the semi-final first leg.

Alex Meechan netted his sixth goal of the season when he opened the scoring after 71 minutes with Droylsden's top scorer Tony Gray converting an 81st minute penalty to claim the tie.

The Bloods only secured their play-off place on the last day of the season when they thumped Redditch 6-1 while Fleetwood where contenders for the title before finally losing out to Southport.

But Droylsden were deserved winners as Town failed to convert their chances.

Both sides cancelled themselves out in the early stages as a midfield battle ensued with Droylsden first to test their opponents after 15 minutes. Keeper Danny Hurst needed to be at full stretch to keep out a cross that almost found its way into the back of the net.

Town began to find their feet as the first half wore on but were limited to shots from the edge of the area as Droylsden kept their shape well.

Fleetwood's best chance arguably came after 44 minutes when their leading scorer Adam Warlow latched onto an Anthony Barry cross but Craig Mawson was equal to the effort and acrobatically kept the effort out.

The second half started in much the same way as the first with Gray coming close to opening the scoring after ten minutes of relative inactivity in front of goal, after 54 minutes.

Alex Brown did expertly down the left-hand side before feeding Gray, who unleashed a well-hit shot in to the far corner, but Hurst somehow denied the player.

Town were on the attack five minutes later with Sean Clancy unlucky not to see his opportunist shot find the goal as he powered his way into the box. He slid in to get on the end of a pass with the ball just skimming the cross bar.

Alan Wright was then naturally disappointed as none of the Town players were able to make use of his inch-perfect free-kick that bypassed both sides before going out for a throw.

As it was, Droylsden, who were lucky to still be on level terms with their opponents, found the breakthrough that Town could not with Meechan beating Hurst from the edge of the box.

Gareth Seddon came close to finding an equaliser on 76 minutes only to see his shot blocked by Steve Halford but just four minutes later Droylsden doubled their lead as Gray scored his 24th goal of the season from the spot.

Beeley's challenge on Stuart Whalley was ruled to have been illegal and the referee immediately awarded the penalty.

Town continued to press as they went in search of at least one goal to give themselves a fighting chance in the second leg on Sunday but it wasn't t be and Droylsden held on for the win.