Linnets top of the league

LINNETS are the new leaders of the North West Under 21s Development League's Championship Division B.

- BY DAVE BETTLEY

But the route to the top wasn't as straightforward as had seemed likely at half-time when Runcorn led by four goals.

With the state of last night's game looking very comfortable, the hosts introduced all five substitutes upon the restart to give non-starters valuable game time.

Some momentum was lost in the process, this was perhaps only to be expected.

But Runcorn could not have forseen the dismissal on the hour of defender Callum Prince.

With Vulcan having already shown renewed purpose, the one-man advantage gave them belief that they could get back into the contest.

Their arrears were halved by two goals in the last 18 minutes.

The home side were never in serious danger but were grateful all the same for the roll-on, roll-off substitutions rule.

It meant that they were able to reintroduce players to offset the tiring effect of being down to 10 men.