CORS began their new season in Division 1 of the West Lancs League with a home tie against Yorkshire based outfit, Crosshills.

Cors started the match at a brisk pace and played some neat attractive football which bemused Crosshills as Cors seemingly breached their rearguard at will.

Unfortunately for Cors, their final pass was not quite up to quality of the rest of their game and Crosshills cleared the danger on several occasions.

This changed on 20 minutes when neat interplay between Aidan Caswell and Ollie Wilson just outside the Crosshills box resulted in the ball an incisive pass being slipped through to Steve Chapman to leave him through on goal.

As the keeper advanced off his line and spread himself, Chapman lifted the ball over him but the ball went agonisingly over the crossbar.

As the half drew to a close, Cors inexplicably began to concede possession cheaply which allowed Crosshills to get a foothold in the game and exert some pressure of their own.

Cors keeper, Russ Sharpe, was called into action to save a couple of speculative long range shots but other than these, Cors defended stoutly and denied the visitors any more opportunities.

The second half started with Crosshills fielding a different formation to try and counter the threat poised by Cors in the first half.

The opening 15 minutes were pretty much a stalemate with neither team creating anything of note.

It was at this point when Cors sealed their own fate. Sharpe took a free kick for offside from inside his area and passed the ball to debutant James Williams on the edge of the box.

As Williams turned with the ball, unaware of a Crosshills forward bearing down on him, the ball was lost and the Crosshills forward went on to blast a shot past Sharpe to give Crosshills the lead.

Cors thought they had equalised minutes later when a Gary Hartley flicked header found Adam Pashley bursting through the Crosshills defence to round the keeper and slot the ball home.

Celebration turned immediately to shock as the referee ruled the goal due to the visiting linesman having raised his flag as the ball rolled into the net.

Further disbelief was to follow as the referee mystifyingly waved away two strong penalty claims when Caswell was felled twice in quick succession inside the visitor's penalty area.

Crosshills created one further chance when they hit the side netting but it was one way traffic and Chapman saw the keeper save his goal-bound shot saved by the keepers legs.

Another flowing move carved Crosshills wide open but Wilson's shot crept just the wrong side of the post.

With only minutes remaining, Cors were throwing everything at Crosshills and defender Hartley found himself in unfamiliar territory when he was on the end of another great move but his shot under pressure went sailing over the bar to seal Cors' fate.

Defeat in this match was a bitter pill to swallow for Cors but if they can maintain this level of competitiveness and the standard of football exhibited in this game, then surely they will be a force to reckon with in the coming season.