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Fortune is not on Flit side
Gary Flitcroft Chorley Manager
Magpies boss Garry Flitcroft is hoping fortune favours his side tomorrow when they welcome Frickley Athletic to Victory Park for a NPL Premier Division fixture.
Over the past few weeks, the Chorley boss believes his team has been on the receiving end of a number of dubious refereeing decisions.
And if luck has deserted Flitcroft and his men on the pitch, then it also appears to be a similar story off it, as the Magpies squad has been depleted by injuries and suspensions.
They have also lost loan striker Darren Stephenson, who has returned to parent club Southport.
On Tuesday, the Magpies were reduced to nine men as they let slip a promising position against derby rivals AFC Fylde to lose 4-1 at Victory Park.
Leading 1-0, the Magpies shipped four goals in the final half-hour as both skipper Andrew Teague and Chris Denham were given their marching orders.
Flitcroft said: “To be honest, for 70 minutes I didn’t think Fylde were in it.
“We created a number of chances and should have been three or four goals up.
“The two sending-offs changed the game for us.
“Chris Denham’s was a red card, but Andrew Teague’s was nowhere near a sending-off.
“His first one may have been a booking, but the second one their lad has just bumped into him.
“We have had a few sending-offs recently and I will be the first to have a go at my players if they deserve it, but two or three of them have not been red cards.
“The standard of refereeing this season in our league this season has been poor.”
Frickley will travel to Chorley tomorrow buoyed by the fact that it was only a few weeks ago that they beat the Magpies 3-1 at Victory Park in the FA Cup.
Once again, on that occasion, Chorley had a man sent-off and saw two penalties for handball awarded against them.
“Things are just not going for us at the moment,” Flitcroft, who has signed Oldham pair David Mellor and Kirk Millar on a month’s loan, said.
“But the league is really open this year – nobody is running away with it.
“A win tomorrow could put us back up to second.”
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Weather for Preston
Saturday 18 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 25 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 16 C
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Wind direction: North west
