BARNOLDSWICK Town couldn’t kick-off their competitive campaign in style, as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to Wythenshawe FC on Saturday in the Champions Cup.

Acting as the NWCFL equivalent of the Community Shield, the match sees the NWCFL Premier Division Champions face off against the Macron Cup Winners from last season, with Wythenshawe and Barlick the respective winners of those competitions last time around.

Traditionally, the host team is the side who won the NWCFL top division, but for this years’ match, the Ammies’ Hollyhedge Park was unavailable on the scheduled date.

As a result, Barnoldswick hosted the fixture at the Silentnight Stadium.

Records of this match taking place during pre-season go back to 2016, when league winners Colne put cup winners Atherton Collieries to the sword on home soil.

It took until the 35th minute for the game to really burst into life as Alfie Carmichael saw red for Barlick.

Town’s no10 was adjudged to have elbowed his opponent and the referee immediately sent him back to the changing rooms.

Manager, Steve Pickup made changes at the break in a bid to bring more stability to his ten-man lineup, with Ellis Wallbank and James Ormrod coming off for Lewis Farmer and Morgan Bird.

Shortly after the interval, Wythenshawe would no longer have a man-advantage as goalkeeper Kyle Haslam was given his marching orders after preventing a goalscoring opportunity with his hands at the edge of the penalty area.

From the resulting free-kick Andy Hill whipped the ball over the wall to leave the visitors’ stopper with no chance of saving it. 1-0 to Barlick.

However, with the clock ticking down, Wythenshawe scored twice in four minutes to turn the game on its head with goals coming from substitute Kaleb Parkinson and Darrhyl Mason to seal a 2-1 victory for the visitors.