Atherton LR’s promotion hopes were ended after a late 1-0 home defeat to South Liverpool in their play-off semi-final on Saturday.

The visitors kicked off, but quickly allowed a fast-paced LR to counter under pressure.

An early opportunity fell to Dan Lenehan who received a deflected ball but fired a dangerous shot narrowly wide.

The home fans made themselves heard as LR had another close call when Brandon Dawson found space on the left wing and charged towards goal, but the quick-thinking South keeper rushed out and denied the hosts an early lead.

South Liverpool took it on the chin and created space for their own chances, including a fantastic curling low shot from the edge of the box which was just pushed away by Joe Bickerstaffe.

A cagey first-half came to an end scoreless.

The second half began with the Merseysiders setting the tempo from the get-go as a corner was swung to the far post and placed just wide of the target.

The only goal of the game came late on 78 minutes as a run into the box was denied as a South player was brought down and the referee pointed to the spot, to the dismay of all of the LR fans.

Elliot Owen despatched the spot-kick and the visitors held on to secure a final tie against Ashton Town, who beat Euxton Villa 4-3 in the other last-four clash.

Despite defeat, it had been a valiant effort by LR and boss Dave Jones said: “It’s really difficult to take. Despite the result today, this football club- has come so far and Shaun (Lynch, chairman) said it correctly, this club got its mojo back.

“Seeing the community out supporting its football club, you’ve got a team out there willing to give everything.

“I’m just devastated for the lads because they’ve given everything, to me, to the football club and it just wasn’t quite enough.”