A superb 85th minute strike from Jack Coop gave him Prestwich Heys a deserved victory at sun drenched Mossie Park against Charnock Richard on Saturday.
Heys came into this one on the back of a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Barnoldswick Town last Tuesday night while Charnock were on a great run and with games in hand still had a chance of promotion being in fourth place in the table.
Prestwich manager Matt Barnes gave a debut to new full back signing Charles Akande and visitors started brightly with striker Jack Coop bringing a great save from former Heys keeper Callum Jakovels.
Disappointment was soon to follow for the visitors however on 17 minutes when star man Greg Daniels went down heavily from a 50/50 challenge near the half way line and after lengthy treatment left the field with his leg bandaged and was replaced by winger Niall Sultan.
Back came Charnock with a spell of pressure with Nathan Fairhurst firing a free kick over on 22 minutes and a few half chances mainly involving striker Carl Grimshaw but Heys were still providing a threat when Sultan blasted a shot over the bar on 32 minutes and shortly after Coop bringing another good save from Jakovels from 12 yards.
Grimshaw closed the goalless first half heading over from a Spencer Bibby free kick and Prestwich went in for the half time refreshments knowing they'd had the better of the first half chances and were more than in a game where they were expected to struggle on recent form.
Into the second half now and Grimshaw had the ball in the net on 50 minutes but his shot was ruled out for offside and had injury drama themselves five minutes later when defender Harry Scarborough collided with a post and left the field after a lengthy stoppage.
The break in play seemed to galvanise Heys and on 66 minutes Oumar Camara had a run down the right resulting in a corner that centre half Ben Hampson headed over and this was a warning sign for the home side of what was to follow.
A free kick from Sultan went over the bar from Heys as they battled pressed and got to grips with the midfield winning every 50/50 ball with midfielders Sam Dickinson and Cory Kelly particularly impressive and on 69 minutes the deadlock was broken when a corner on the right found Hampson again and this time made no mistake burying a chance bottom left past Jakovels to put the visitors deservedly in front.
Charnock responded on 75 minutes with a header over the bar from a free kick as they tried to get back into the game but in doing this left gaps for Heys to exploit and on 85 minutes Coop got the ball on the left beat the defender cut inside to the edge of the box and just as it looked like he was running out of room hit a rasping shot that flew bottom left past Jakovels into the net for his 32nd goal of the season, putting Heys two up and sending the traveling Heys support wild.
The home team pushed up field trying to get back into it with nine minutes of injury time awarded for the earlier injury with Grimshaw miss cuing a shot on 92 minutes summing up his day and a cross from the right eluding everyone and going wide.
Charnock pressure finally told on 98 minutes when Nathan Nickeas on the left caught the Heys back four cold and his 12-yard shot flew past Heys keeper Russ Saunders, but this turned out to be nothing more of a consolation as the referee blew shortly after and completed an impressive win on the road for Heys.
Manager Matt Barnes will be happy with this much improved performance and will be hoping the team carry this form into the remainder of the season with a mid-table finish still possible.