A wonderful goal from captain Jake Cottrell was the only difference between the two sides as Avro recorded a fifth successive win and clean sheet against Lower Breck on a blisteringly hot afternoon at the Vestacare Stadium.
Manager Alex Frost named the same starting eleven which had beaten Padiham in their first home league game, with Lee Knight and Maysan Benarbia replacing Oliver Froggatt and Callum Mahoney on the bench.
The first half was one of few chances at either end, indeed neither keeper had a save to make as the sweltering conditions clearly took their toll. This meant that the game’s first major talking point came deep into added time at the end of the half, when after an altercation involving a number of players, Kyle Jacobs and visiting keeper Josh Molloy were both shown red cards.
With no substitute keeper on the Lower Breck bench, midfielder Jonno Swatton donned the gloves, but it was difficult to find him at fault for a winning goal which would have beaten many others with more experience between the sticks. Cottrell was just inside the opposition half when he let fly, and the ball flew over Swatton’s head into the back of the net to give the Avro captain a third goal in five games, having scored three in his previous 44 appearances.
The last half hour seemed to drag on interminably for the home fans, with the visitors having plenty of the ball and probing endlessly for that killer final ball with which to unlock the Avro defence. However, in spite of their very best efforts, Grant Shenton did not have a save to make as his nine team mates toiled incessantly to keep the visitors at bay, and a hard fought victory was duly recorded.
So just one moment of class was enough to separate two closely matched sides, and although there are still another 38 games to play, it is hard not to get a little bit excited about the fact that Avro now sit top of the table with the best defensive record in the division.
