The Ridge secured a massive three points against Abbey Hey following two massive penalties.

Ashcroft's Reds found themselves behind early on after former Town man Moses Yoak opened the scoring.

However, Town would provide another brilliant fight back that would rightfully see them earn a big three points.

Not to mention a crucial penalty save in the dying moments from Kier Barry to spark scenes on and off the pitch.

There were three changes last week's starting XI, with Finley Devenney and Liam Atkinson returning from injury.

Jack Anderton also came in after scoring the equaliser in last weekend's comeback draw away to top of the league.

Despite how the res of the half went, Town were quick out the blocks.

Ryan McLean raced onto a ball from midfield and flashed a powerful effort wide of the far post after just 30 seconds.

However this would prove to be Town's final exciting move of the first half.

Abbey Hey seemingly took control of the midfield from this point on.

The warning signs came early, as just five minutes in a corner fell to Luke Merill who poked the ball just wide of the Town post.

The goal would soon follow as two minutes later, Yoak pounced on a loose ball inside the penalty to side foot it past Barry.

However, he then showed respect and class, refusing to celebrate against the hand that once fed him.

We'd never expect anything less of Moses.

Town showed signs of getting back into it immediately as a nice reverse pass from Homson-Smith was fired at goal by Atkinson, albeit straight into the goalkeeper's arms.

Whether he had overstretched his leg in his effort or not, Liam was then forced off, clutching his hamstring.

He was promptly replaced by Matt Van Wyk.

There was then a slip up in the Town back line and Oakes raced onto it and charged at goal.

Thankfully for Town, Marshall was there to run back and get himself between the ball and the net to dispossess the attacker.

The first bookings of the game would then come, one for Hey's Darryl Grant for pulling back Van Wyk, and then one for Town's Trafford for borderline the same offence.

A very, very late challenge on Anderton by Barnett then received a yellow card too, despite the furious Longridge protests for a harsher punishment.

Town then were let off massively, as a square ball from Clooney was just infront of the sliding Barnett as the visitors were just inches off doubling their lead.

Barry was then called into action to tip wide a long range effort from Joel Ankers.

To the Town relief, the half time whistle then blew, giving them a much needed chance to regroup.

They hadn't got going, but that would soon change.

At half time, our very own 'keeper coach Levi drew the pound for the ground winning ticket number as no.7845.

A massive thank you to those who keep supporting the season-long club fundrasier.

It's greatly appreciated and has helped the upkeep of the football club tremendously.

Back underway for the second half.

Due to another knock sustained in the first 45, Ashey was forced into a second substitution, as Jordan Dainty hobbled off with an ankle injury to be replaced by Ethan Edmundson.

The Ridge wasted no time and immediately got the ball forward.

They focused the early play down the left hand side before Anderton and McLean combined well.

It was promptly hoisted into the mixer, only for Abbey Hey defender Sekouba Sanogo to lash it into his own goal as he attempted to clear it.

A finish that any striker would be proud of.

Homson-Smith then began to impose himself on the game.

The attacker twisted and turned 20 yards from goal before shooting and seeing it deflect wide for a corner.

He then curled the resulting set piece over the head of the advancing goalkeeper but it dropped just wide of the far post, with Devenney even coming close to getting a telling touch on it.

Then, with 15 minutes left to play, Homson-Smith was picked out from deep.

Morgan was then bundled over in the box by Hey captain Josh Dickin, giving the referee no choice but to point to the spot.

As expected, Morgs then stepped up and rifled it into the right hand side of the goal to put Town into the lead.

The Ridge's mood would then get boosted even more, as Hey defender Grant clumsily fouled Anderton near the corner flag, receiving a second yellow card and then a red for his marching orders.

Town now had the man advantage, but Abbey Hey were far from out of the game.

Following a double change from Longridge, which saw Homson-Smith and Anderton replaced by Gary Basterfield and Luke Smith, the visitors now had nothing to lose.

They threw bodies forward and even had an acrobatic effort from Clooney beaten away by Barry, before Devenney launched it away.

To break Town hearts, in the 90th minute the referee pointed to the spot after some rash Town defending as they tried desperately to get it away.

Top goalscorer Saul Henderson stepped up only for Kier Barry to dive brilliantly to his right to parry the spot kick away form goal.

The Town defence then got it away to spark wild celebrations from the Town faithful.

However since football is never easy, Town soon had their hearts in their mouth again.

A soft foul led to a free kick 25 yards from goal.

However Barnett's effort flew over the crossbar before the full time whistle was blown.

An absolutely massive three points that saw Longridge climb up to 18th.

8th in the form table isn't so bad either.

Unsurprisingly, the LTFC junior mascots awarded their MOTM to Kier Barry, whilst the committee MOTM went the way of Jack Anderton.

Two fantastic and brilliant performances for sure.

Speaking after the game, Barry expressed his delight about the save and the rest of the boys' performance.

"I felt in control in the moment to be fair, but when the boys put a graft like that in, in the last 15 minutes or so to keep that advantage".

"We did everything we could to get the result and it's really good to keep that run going".

You can view a full gallery of images from the game here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shotsbykass/albums/72177720323694205/

We'd also like to thank the 191 profusely for the brilliant support yesterday.

We simply could not do it without you.

We're back at home once again on Tuesday night, taking on Padiham at 7:45pm.

We'll see you all again then.

#UpTheRidge

The Goals

Longridge: Sanogo (OG 47'), Homson-Smith (P 75')

Abbey Hey: Yoak (7')

The Teams

Longridge: Barry, Trafford, Devenney, Marshall, Hewitt, Bridges, Dainty (Edmundson 46'), McLean, Homson-Smith (Smith 84'), Anderton (Basterfield 84'), Atkinson (Van Wyk 16')

Abbey Hey: Green, Grant, Dickin, Stanyer, Sanogo, Merrill, Clooney (Cordara-Soanes 65'), Oakes, Yoak, Barnett, Ankers (Henderson 80')