RUNCORN FC Halton had their playermanager Steve Carragher carried off and striker Shaun Whalley sent off but were rewarded for an against-the-odds effort with a point at Croft Park on Tuesday.

The Linnets, who climbed two places to fourth from bottom, had taken five hours to get to Northumberland having travelled with only 13 players due to injuries and unavailability.

But all that was lacking from their performance against fourth-from-top Blyth Spartans was a goal.

And it would have been no injustice had Runcorn returned with a comfortable win instead of a second successive 0-0 on their UniBond League Premier Division travels.

They had Whalley dismissed inside the last 10 minutes for pushing an opponent in the face to prevent him getting the ball - four Blyth players were cautioned.

But Runcorn had the chances to have returned with their first away victory.

James Locke, who has been out of favour, did well after being restored to the left wing while Jay Potter impressed having reverted to central defence from right-back in the absence of Lee Siadankay.

Siadankay and striker Thomas Lamb both missed the trip due to work commitments while first-choice left-sided players David Ness and Colin Flood were both injured.

Carragher was carried off with a knee damage in the 79th minute, having made his first start of the season after an ankle injury, and he could now be missing for another couple of weeks.

The stricken boss will need to do a head count before naming his side for Saturday's trip to Farsley Celtic in the Carlsberg-sponsored FA Trophy. The winners of the tie at Throstle Nest will collect £1,300 prizemoney.

Runcorn will visit Marine on Tuesday (ko 7.45pm) if neither has a Trophy replay which in Runcorn's case would be at Valerie Park the same night. nRuncorn Town manager Gary Moore has stepped down for at least four weeks due to a West Cheshire League suspension.

Moore had been asked to appear before the league committee to explain his sending off in a game at Manor Athletic last January but couldn't attend for personal reasons.

The ban will remain in place until the Town manager appears before the committee whose next scheduled meeting isn't until November 9.

Reserve team boss John Crompton will take temporary charge of first-team affairs, assisted by Moore's deputy Dave Nethercott.

Dave Leach, the reserve team's assistant manager, is currently running the reserves. nBridge Timber maintained their un-

beaten start in the Courier Post Runcorn Sunday League with a hard-fought 2-0 win at Travellers Rest.

Neil Larkin was Timber's man-of-the-match with Kev Hammond taking the equivalent award for Travellers.

Bridge's goals came from captain Gary Ellison and Karl Thomas (penalty).