IT was an Easter weekend to forget for Barnoldswick Town as they conceded nine goals in the space of three days and fell to two defeats in that time.

Saturday saw Barlick beaten 4-2 at Pilkington, while Monday resulted in Steve Pickup’s side losing 5-2 at home to Colne.

Relegation is near impossible for Barnoldswick, but they sit in 17th with six league matches left, in what has been a below-par campaign for the side from the Silentnight Stadium.

One positive for Town in recent weeks, however, is the form of Gareth Hill who continues to provide a bright spark for the club amidst the poor results and performances.

He scored another three goals over the Easter weekend to take his NWCFL tally for the season up to 16, while he’s scored 23 times in all competitions.

Despite that, Hill and his teammates couldn’t prevent Barlick from getting off to a poor start on Saturday at Pilkington, as they found themselves 2-0 behind with just 26 minutes on the clock.

Gabriel Ellis and Freddy Garbutt were the beneficiaries for the home side as they helped their side get off to a flyer with two early goals.

After the interval, Hill provided the visitors with hope, but it was short-lived.

His first goal came from a corner, where he glanced a header perfectly into the far side of Pilkington’s net, before he levelled the score at 2-2 on minute 55 to shock the hosts.

However, ten minutes later the home side restored their lead – Wade Rutherford lashing home an effort after the ball fell kindly to him following a corner.

And Harry Holness made it 4-2 with five minutes of the contest remaining, as the away side struggled to catch the tricky forward, who placed a shot through Callum Jakovlevs’ legs to wrap up a 4-2 victory for Pilkington.

On Monday afternoon, when Barlick returned home to take on Colne in a local derby, the hosts got off to the worst possible start as they conceded within side a minute of the game kicking-off.

Lucas Weaver pounced on Barnoldswick’s sleeping defence to strike an early blow and send the visitors into a 1-0 lead.

Just nine minutes later and the hosts were level, and it was man of the moment, G.Hill who tied the scores.

Reacting quickly to an error from the goalkeeper, Hill buried his opportunity to continue in his fine vein of form.

In the second half, goals from William Hasler-Cregg (X2), another strike from Weaver and a goal from Billy Priestley resulted in the visitors running away with the contest.

Thomas Dean struck for the hosts but the game was effectively done already, as Colne cruised to an impressive 5-2 victory at their local rivals.

Up next for Barnoldswick is a trip to Wythenshawe tomorrow evening, and the visitors will be eager to get back to winning ways so that they can finish the season on a high.