FORTUNE favoured Furness Rovers on Saturday as they ended a two-match losing run by beating Bolton County 3-1 in the West Lancashire League Division Two.

With the Training Pitch showing little effect of the rain that caused some local games to be postponed, the visitors started brightly and when they took the lead after 25 minutes it was well deserved.

Rovers were then lucky not to concede a penalty but totally against the run of play they found an equaliser when Joe Tindale was on hand to tap home from close range.

This took the wind out of Bolton’s sails and Rovers enjoyed a good spell. However County did break away and hit the crossbar on the stroke of half-time.

Both sides had chances early in the second half but the score remained level, and on the hour there was the unusual sight of the visitors swapping keepers with a sub going in goal and the original keeper moving into midfield, showing no sign of any injury.

Jason Corkan replaced Andrew Whiteford and with Reece Carlisle coming into the game Rovers pushed for a win.

They went ahead with 10 minutes left when Scott Goulding’s shot took a wicked deflection giving Bolton’s new keeper no chance.

The drama didn’t end there as Jack Cooksey was sent clear and went down in the box, seeming to slip as he was challenged by the keeper and the ball was eventually cleared.

Cooksey’s aggressive reaction towards the referee after being denied a penalty earned him a red card.

Any hopes the visitors had of getting a point evaporated almost straight away with a comedy own goal from their left back who put a harmless through ball into his own net while attempting a simple back pass.

The 3-1 win lifts Rovers back into sixth place in the table above Walney Island and Millom on goal difference.

All three sides are on 18 points after Millom came from behind to beat Walney 2-1 at Tummerhill. Having not scored in the West Lancs until last week’s brace against Swarthmoor, Simon Bassett was on target again for Walney after just five minutes.

But Millom pulled a goal back through Jordan Williams just before the hour mark and Steve Grieve scored the winner with 12 minutes remaining.

All four local sides in Division One saw their games postponed and in the Premier Division both teams lost.

Crooklands Casuals were playing for the first time in nine weeks and lost 4-2 at home to Thornton Cleveleys while Vickerstown lost 4-1 at Eagley.

Both sides are in the bottom five but will be hoping that Charnock Richard’s application to join the North West Counties League is successful so only one team is relegated at the end of the season.

Vickerstown went 2-0 down at Eagley and were handed a lifeline when the home keeper gave a penalty away and was red carded, with Dave Round junior slotting home the resulting spot-kick.

However the home side made light of their disadvantage and went 3-1 up before Vickerstown keeper Jordan Belcher suffered the same fate as his opposite number in conceding a penalty and being sent off.

Eagley scored the penalty to complete the scoring.

At Longlands Park, Crooklands Casuals took an early lead through Dave Mansergh but Thornton equalised a few minutes later and went 2-1 up just before half-time.

Mansergh got Cassies back level with a penalty but the visitors scored twice to wrap up a 4-2 victory.

In the North West Counties League Division One Holker Old Boys extended their unbeaten league run with a 1-0 win over Rochdale Town but Ashton Town’s win means The Stags stay seventh in the table, still one place outside the play-offs.

Confidence will be high at Rakesmoor however as they have several games in hand on some of the teams above them.

Cartmel were back in North Lancashire League Premier Division action for the first time in 2016 and their 1-0 win at Highgrove, thanks to a Graham Rhodes goal, keeps them second in the table.

In the Furness Premier League 10 of the 17 scheduled games went ahead and in the Rifleman’s Garage Premier Division GSK Ulverston Rangers reserves moved level on points with Vickerstown reserves by beating Haverigg United 2-0 at Wilson Park.

A Sean Gardner effort and a wind-assisted own goal ensured the sides swapped places in the table which is getting tighter as the season goes on. Kirkby United are eighth but can go top by winning their games in hand.

They played a league game for the first time since October 17 and won 2-1 at Bootle in a scrappy game with few chances. Scott Dempsey vollied Kirkby ahead after 70 minutes but Dan Clarke equalised for Bootle with a cross-come-shot, only for Scott Watkinson to score Kirkby’s winner with five minutes to go.

Britannia have shown an improvement in recent weeks which has coincided with the return of Ross Walker who scored the opening goal in their 3-1 home win over Barrow Wanderers from a Sean Darby assist.

Walker then returned the compliment for Darby to make it 2-0 at half-time. With the evergreen Mark Hammond and man of the match Liam Holmes in fine form Brit withstood a Wanderers’ comeback until a deflected Josh Holt free-kick pulled a goal back.

They sealed the win when Jonny Moore made it 3-1 with a calm finish. The other Premier Division game to be played saw Furness Rovers reserves come away from Newby Terrace with a 2-0 win over Barrow Celtic thanks to goals from Joe Loughlan and Will Heywood.

Croftlands Park moved 13 points clear at the top of Premier Tiles Division One by thrashing Barrow Celtic reserves 12-0.

Andrew Currie and Matt Dean both scored four times with the other goals coming from Callum Allardyce, Macauley Dixon, Chris Ivison and Martin Bowd.

GSK Ulverston Rangers A finally gained their first win of the season with a 6-3 victory over Haverigg United reserves but they stay bottom of the table.

Ben Rhodes and Peter Spence bagged braces with Kain Ryan also on target. Dan Hall scored at both ends and is Haverigg’s joint top scorer having scored an own goal in the previous league meeting in December as well.

Haverigg’s other scorers were Martin Scott and Dale Graham.

In Division Two Millom A maintained their three-point advantage at the top over Ormsgill North End with a 5-1 win over Walney Island A. Mark O’Brien and Jon Patton both scored twice and Chris Powell also found the net for Millom with Zac Quayle replying for Walney.

Ormsgill kept up their challenge with a 6-0 win over Bootle reserves. Damian Minnican scored a hat-trick with Mike Crampton (2) and a Danny Cunningham penalty completing the scoring in a game well handled by referee Keenan Wright in the windy conditions at Biggar Bank.

Kirkby United reserves beat Coniston reserves 4-3 with goals from Dan Marshall, John Marrs, Matty Laisby and Mark Bennett. Coniston’s scorers were Dave Cooper, 2, and Matthew Leece.

Vickerstown A progressed in the Horne Cup with a 5-1 victory over FC Barrow Island. Scorers were Paul Millar, Phil Athersmith, Dave Goodwin, Phil Cubin and Iaian McDonald with Jonny O’Halloran on target for Barrow Island.