A 34th minute strike from Joe Herbert was enough to give Skelmersdale United a 2-1 win against Prestwich Heys in this North West Counties Premier League clash at the JMO sports park on Saturday.
Heys came into this one on the back of three defeats in the previous games and manager Matt Barnes gave starts to new signings Richard Seear and keeper Tom Simpson along with recent recruits Corey Kelly and Greg Daniels to give the team a fresher look about it.
It was the visitors springing into action first on six minutes when striker Jack Coop brought a save from Skem keeper Ben Barnes from twelve yards after great work by Greg Daniels.
Prestwich continued to press with a shot from Nathan Emery going over the bar and two successive free kicks also going over from Cory Kelly and Coop as confidence began to grow in the team.
So, it was somewhat a surprise after 32 minutes when Skelmersdale scored from a free kick themselves 20 yards out on the right when Michael Howard blasted bottom right just squeezing past Tom Simpson into the net to give the home side a 1-0 lead.
Skelmersdale then increased the lead just two minutes later with a move down the right and the ball found Joe Herbert whose impressive strike bottom left from twenty yards gave Simpson no chance.
The home team now had a foothold in the game getting to grips with the midfield but nearly undid all the hard work on 37 minutes with a bizarre own goal when a back pass went astray going straight past United keeper Ben Barnes and into the net for get Heys back in it.
The action was now fast and furious with a few full-blooded tackles going in from both sides on this 4G surface and the game was halted for a few moments just before half time as Heys Emery had a nasty collision with an advertisement board but was fine to resume playing.
2-1 at the break and Heys were determined to get back into it with Coop dragging a shot wide on 55 minutes and Matt Barnes introduced midfielder Danny White and winger Niall Sultan off the bench to help proceedings but found break through's hard to come by with the home defence sitting deep well organised as the half started to get scrappy as it went on with chances few and far between.
One of which was for the home side on 80 minutes with Heys keeper Simpson brilliantly turning a shot round the post for a corner preventing what looked a certain goal.
Heys striker Greg Daniels was lively late on bringing a save from Ben Barnes and the last chance was for sub-Danny White who shot wide right from thirty yards bringing the game to a close.
So, although this was a closely fought game it's another defeat for Heys and whilst showing plenty of endeavour will need to increase the number of clear-cut chances they create in the next few weeks if results are to improve but with the recent signings made, they are more than capable of doing this.