Newby's late winner puts Seagulls in top six

JON NEWBY scored a late winner 12 minutes from the end to give Colwyn Bay a hard-earned 2-1 victory over Burscough which has temporarily lifted them up to sixth place in the table.
It was a really important win following Saturday's 6-0 defeat to Northwich, and the Seagulls moved to within two points of fourth-placed Bradford Park Avenue with a game in hand.
They had the better of the first half and took the lead on 28 minutes when a Gareth Evans shot was blocked by a defender's hand in the area and Ian Sheridan scored from the resulting penalty.
But despite having most of the play after that they couldn't force a second goal before half-time.
Karl Noon put in a great run to open up the best chance but blazed his shot over the bar and the Bay weren't able to test keeper Sean Lake, although three times in the first half Jon Newby fired balls across the face of the Burscough goal with no Colwyn Bay player able to get the touch needed to turn them into goals.
Burscough made a double substitution at half-time and started the second half strongly, forcing Chris Sanna to make his first save of the game on 51 minutes.
They were narrowly off target with with two other good efforts and their pressure paid off with an equaliser on 61 minutes.
From a free kick on the left, Darren Byers scored with a well-placed header beyond the diving Sanna.
Colwyn Bay looked very nervy at the back at that stage, but managed to hit back with Gareth Evans heading narrowly wide from a Sheridan cross.
Fraser McLachlan was then unlucky when his shot from 20 yards thudded against a post with the keeper beaten, and Noon's acrobatic header from the rebound went just wide.
The winner, however, came on 78 minutes when Joe McMahon headed down a Michael Lea corner and Newby volleyed into the net from six yards.
Burscough keeper Sean Lake then made a diving save from Karl Noon, but Burscough pressed hard for a second equaliser and made it an anxious last five minutes or so for the home fans.
Manager Dave Challinor admitted it had been a tough game, but said: "It was nice to bounce back from Saturday and get three points - and the fact that we have moved up to sixth place shows how important wins can be in this division.
"I think both sides were a bit nervy and edgy after suffering big defeats at the weekend and that showed, but I thought we were the better side in the first half and deserved to be in front at half-time.
"For some reason we stepped off the gas a bit at the start of the second half and seemed to be waiting for things to happen.
"Their goal, however, spurred us on again and thankfully we got the winner and had opportunities to score more goals.
"Once again we weren't clinical enough in the final third which is an ongoing concern, but its three points in the bag.
"I thought Gaz (Gareth Evans) had an excellent game again and I was pleased with Joe McMahon on his debut. The longer the game went on the more comfortable he looked. It was also his header which set up the winning goal so he can been pleased with his night's work."
The Seagulls, however, have another injury concern with skipper Damien Allen, who had stud marks down both thighs from one dreadful challenge on him, is also nursing an knee injury from that challenge which forced him to come off early in the second half.
Colwyn Bay: Sanna, Denson, Lea, Challinor, McMahon, McLachlan,Evans, Allen (McGraa 51mins), Noon, Newby (Titchiner 87mins), Sheridan (Davey 74mins). Subs not used: Sheehan and Metcalf.
Attendance: 206.

COLWYN BAY dropped to seventh on Wednesday night when Worksop beat Stocksbridge PS 2-1 and moved up from seventh to fourth place, two points above the Seagulls from the same number of games.
Six teams below the top two are now separated by just two points.