Gornal Athletic 1, Pegasus Juniors 0

A MATT Vaughan header early in the second half was enough to give Gornal Athletic all three points at a frosty Garden Walk today.

Played on a heavy pitch and with temperatures plummeting, it was a game that proved a close contest as both sides battled hard for the ball.

It was only in the second half, when Gornal played to the conditions by hitting their front men earlier, that they began to have more joy.

The Peacocks also welcomed Dreniz Bala back to the starting lineup after a short spell with Causeway United.

It was Pegasus that edged the early exchanges and they got the first shot away when captain Paul Allam curled a long-range effort over the bar after five minutes.

Gradually Gornal found their feet and enjoyed more possession thanks to the terrier-like midfield play of the impressive Brett McGilligan. Time and time again he was on hand to snap in with a challenge before keeping his composure to play simple passes in difficult conditions.

However, it still took the home side until the 20th minute mark to have their first sight of goal when Grant Joshua glanced a deep Vaughan ball into the box just post the post.

Forward Kiea Cowley was a standout bright spark for the visitors, though he had an often thankless task trying to hold the ball up and create his own chances.

He did that on 39 minutes when good footwork saw him cut in from the right flank before hitting his left-footed effort over Rich Kennedy's bar.

Gornal's best chance of the half fell to Craig Stevens in injury time. He collected the ball just inside the area, cut onto his left foot but fired just past the post.

It meant that neither goalkeeper had been forced into a save in the first period.

The home side, however, started the second half with real purpose and created three good opening in a matter of minutes.

First, on 49 minutes, Bala collected the ball at the far post but hit his effort straight at Nathan Phillips in the Pegasus goal.

A minute late, midfielder Craig Stevens rattled the visitors' bar with a long-range drive after Tom Piggott had cut the ball back.

The Athletic onslaught continued on 51 minutes, but again they were denied.

Bala hit the keeper once more from the angle of the penalty area before Piggott followed up and had his effort blocked and turned away for a corner.

Just when it looked like the Pegasus rearguard would hold out, Vaughan rose highest from the resulting corner to guide the ball home and break the deadlock.

A quiet period followed the goal as both sides found it hard to put any meaningful passages of play together.

Though it was Gornal that always looked the more threatening in the final third, thanks mainly to the hard running of Bala and his link up with Piggott, it was Pegasus that could have snatched a leveller with just five minutes left on the clock.

Cowley turned well to lose his man and crossed for the advanced Andy Mowen to poke towards goal. But Keeper Kennedy reached out brilliantly to tip the ball round his post.

The Peacocks then dealt with a late Pegasus spell of pressure to ensure they kept a clean sheet.

They could have wrapped up the victory in injury time when Liam Hickman raced through and lifted his effort over the advancing Phillips but wide of the goal.

Overall it amounted to a hard-fought three points and, more importantly, back-to-back wins following last Saturday's setback against promotion rivals Sporting Khalsa.

Gornal: Kennedy, Edmonds, Dollinson, Love (c), Vaughan, Stevens, Martin, McGilligan, Piggott (Hickman 80), Bala (Wilkes 90), Joshua (Williams 80).

Unused subs: Woods, Crudgington.

Pegasus: Phillips, Moseley, Hughes, Davies, Evans, Dawson, Lowther (Lear 17), Mowen, Cowley, Allam, Bunclark (Webber 58) (Horton 62).

Unused subs: Cuthbertson.