A typical end of season performance from two poor sides saw the points shared but for the Rams it was once again the same old story as they wasted several second half chances to take maximum points.

Abbey Hey started off the brighter of the two sides and almost took the lead in the 12th minute when a shot saw Ramsbottom keeper John Ogden well beaten but the ball hit the post and went out for safety.

The Rams clawed their way back into the game and created four chances but three of those were easily saved with the other going wide.

On 32 minutes Abbey Hey took the lead when they were awarded a penalty after Rams captain John Blackley held onto the Abbey Hey forward and the referee had no option but to award to spot kick.

Blackley then proceeded to argue with the official and in doing so managed to get his name put into the book!

THe resulting penalty kick was well taken by Louis Scott putting his side one-nil in front.

Three minutes later and Abbey Hey almost doubled their lead with another shot that beat Ogden but this time the ball went wide of the post.

In the 37th minute, Dean Thurston weaved his way past several players and just as he was lining up a shot the ball was taken off the Rams forward.

It took the Rams until the 43rd minute before they were awarded their first corner kick of the afternoon but this came to nothing.

In the dying seconds of the first half, Andy Sensale almost gave the Rams the equalising goal when his cross-cum-shot almost beat the keeper at the top left hand side of his goal but somehow he managed to do enough to flick the ball over for a corner kick.

The second half saw a much more spirited effort by the Rams but again it was Abbey Hey who almost scored first when a shot went in but Ogden pulled off a terrific one-handed save.

In the 65th minute Andy Sensale should have scored for the Rams after he beat the offside trap on the left hand side and with just the keeper to beat he could only manage to direct the ball a foot wide of the post.

However he made amends for that miss three minutes later when in an almost similar position he burst forwards and with only the keeper to beat he this time directed the ball onto the inside of the post and finally into the net.

At this point of the game, Abbey Hey started to become a little physical and John Blackley was lucky to stay on the field after remonstrating with the officials about some of the challenges going in.

In the 86th minute Dean Thurston had to be replaced because of a late challange and he was substituted with Mike Brierley.

The Rams should have taken all three points in the last couple of minutes after fashioning up a decent move which involved no less than four players.   As they broke forwards in numbers it seemed a formality that they would take advantage of having men forwards in numbers but as has happened so regularly this season they failed to convert the chance.

Overall another poor performance by the Rams.   Whilst it may have been a slight improvement than their recent defeat to Colne it was nonetheless another indicator as to how much work both Neil Hart and Iain McLellan have to do if they are to convince supporters that they can bring success to the Riverside next season.

Match report notes submitted by Chris Woolfall.