FC United 2 Rossendale United 1

ROSSENDALE were forced to play much of the second half with just 10 men, but they were unlucky to go down to a late goal from FC United.

Rossendale started the game with the advantage of the slope and were the first to create a chance when, from Cook's corner, Watson put his header into the side netting.

However, straight from the resulting goal kick Simon Carden's through ball to the league's leading scorer Rory Patterson put him in the clear and he made no mistake from close range.

Both sides then tested the opposing defences but didn't create any clear chances and the half-time score remained 1-0 to the home side.

The second half was only 11 minutes old when Rossendale manager Derek Egan was sent off, but this only seemed to spur Rossendale on as they took control of the game and were rewarded in the 76th minute when Tom Williams levelled the scores as he neatly finished off a cross from Mario Daniel.

It looked as if this would be good enough to earn Rossendale a well deserved point, but with three minutes left on the clock, Kyle Ingham's goal-line clearance was lobbed back into the box by Jerome Wright and, despite frantic efforts to clear the ball, it fell into the back of the net.

10:55am Monday 3rd December 2007