Some more late heroics from Will Procter earned the Ridge another massive three points away from home.

Ryan McLean opened the scoring just before half time, after his cross-turned-shot from the left found it's way in off the post.

Town were pegged back by Adam Dawson, who hit a cracking 25 yard strike in off the Longridge post.

However a late header from Procter saw Towj come away with all the points.

The game was slightly overshadowed by a mass 22+ brawl at the very end which saw a red card being shown.

There were three changes to the Longridge XI, with Toby Coar, Josh Ashe and Matt Van Wyk coming into the starting side.

Town started the game brilliantly.

Some early possession saw two penalty appeals waved away by the referee, with both Liam Atkinson and Van Wyk hitting the deck in the box.

Anderton then tested Abbey Hey goalkeeper Connor Beard, who kept out the effort with his legs.

Beard then came a long way off his line to head it away from his goal.

It dropped it Anderton whose half-way line lob dropped just inches wide.

The first of a few fiery challenges was then punched by the referee, with Van Wyk seeing yellow for a high challenge on Beard.

Town then got dragged into a game of kick and chase with the home side.

The only real chance the hosts would craft though, was a 30 yard free kick which Dawson sent over the bar.

However, Town would steal the lead just five minutes before the break.

With Anderton fouled 25 yards from goal, Town were awarded a free kick.

Anderton then slipped it into the path of the overlapping McLean whose cross-turned shot bounced in off the post.

Coar was then booked for a foul down the right, but Town dealt with the resulting free kick.

Lee Ashcroft made a double change at the interval, replacing Oscar Wright and Matt Van Wyk with Luke Smith and Jack Arrowsmith.

The latter was involved quickly, flashing a ball across the Abbey Hey six yard box, only for no blue shirts to meet it.

A booking piece in quick succession before the hour mark, with Ben Fletcher for Town and Maddox Banks for Abbey Hey.

Ashcroft then went to his bench again, as Fletcher and Ashe made way for Connor High and Will Procter with 25 minutes left.

Town were then rocked by a 25 yard belter cracking in on the post from Abbey Hey's Dawson three minutes.

This caught Town off guard but they rallied well.

An Abbey Hey defender smashed the ball into the face of Procter and it bounced into the path of Atkinson, with the flag staying down the striker picked out the top corner to put his side ahead... or so he thought.

After a quick discussion with his linesman, the referee disallowed the goal.

The game then turned into a real scrap in the final ten minutes.

Muir was booked, before the resulting free kick was headed out by Leighton Hewitt.

Atkinson managed to win a corner out of nothing, but the delivery was cleared by the hosts.

With four additional minutes then announced, the Town faithful would get their moment to celebrate.

A deflected Procter effort squeezed past Beard at the near post to set the away following off.

However, as mentioned the game would take a sour turn.

Following an elbow on Anderton, the frustration hit a boiling point.

A 22+ man brawl ensued, with Town furious.

As a result, once it calmed down an Abbey Hey's Bobby Page was sent off.

Jack Anderton was shown a yellow card.

In what seemed like protest, Abbey Hey initially walked off the field, before returning less than a minute later.

Action got back underway in the tenth minute of stoppage time.

The now ten man home side threw bodies forward, only for Town to hold firm and see out the victory, making it five wins out of their last six games.

Hewitt was awarded MOTM.

Despite that, assistant manager Charlie Russell knows to take it one game at a time.

"We're made up with the late winner, performance wise we could've been a lot better today.

"The lads know that, with the game we have on Tuesday we're gonna have to be better.

"So yeah we'll take the three points, fair play to Abbey Hey, they made it difficult for us in the second half.

"I know everyone says this, but it's one game at a time.

"You saw that there in the second half, that could've easily gone the other way.

"We've gotta rest, recover and put together a game plan to keep this winning run going.

You can watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/ZF0zn5UNjGg?si=pgaCJTR58pKzynsQ

A massive thank you to the brilliant away support today.

We are next at home to Padiham on Tuesday night at 7:45pm when we look to extend our unbeaten run against high-flying opposition.

We then welcome Stockport Town on the Saturday.

We hope to see you all there again, helping us to keep pushing on.

#UpTheRidge

The Goals

Abbey Hey: Dawson (68')

Longridge: McLean (40'), Procter (90+2')

The Teams

Abbey Hey: Beard, Banks, Stanyer, Rogers, Onasanya, Nolan, Holland-Curwen , Crawford, Dawson, Clooney, Speake

Longridge: Brier, Hewitt, Coar, Muir, McLean, Fletcher (High 65'), Ashe (Procter 65'), Anderton, Wright (Smith 46'), Van Wyk (Arrowsmith 46'), Atkinson