Hardly went down to another narrow defeat, but took a lot of positives from this defeat against top flight opposition.
Athletic started well and after intense early pressure took the lead when, after being put through on goal, Chris Cope picked his spot and fired into the net. With the game restarted Hardly continued to press and only numerous brilliant stops from the Hulton keeper kept the score down and the opposition in it. The class of the top flight side was shown just before half time as they equalised when the ball was played behind the defence and fired into the net from a tight angle. Upto that point the defence had held firm and reduced Abbey to shots from distance, which had been comfortably saved by Gordon, but one slight slip had seen the scores levelled.
That was the message going into the second half, keep going as we had and no more defensive slips, and the second period started wih more of the same pressure as every player went close with efforts at the United goal. Abbey did come into the game more as the half went on and the game flowed from end to end with both sides looking for a winner in the final ten minutes.
That crucial third goal unfortunately came when a slick move through the midfield saw the ball lashed past Gordon. The heads didn't go down though and Hardly went close time and again in their attempts to find an equaliser but were ultimately undone in the dying seconds as a three on two counter attack saw the Abbey striker get free of his marker before ghosting past the last man and hitting the ball across the keeper and just inside the far post.