TRAFFORD’S season came to a disappointing end on Tuesday night when they were defeated 3-0 by an impressive young Prescot Cables side in their Evo-Stik North play-off semi-final on Merseyside.

The visitors made a disastrous start when, after only four minutes, Ally Brown carelessly conceded a corner on the right, Trafford failed to clear the inswinging cross and James McCulloch bundled the ball home at the back post.

Despite Trafford’s vehement appeals for handball, the referee allowed the goal to stand.

The remainder of the first half was defence dominated with no clear-cut chances as both sides struggled to come to terms with the uneven playing surface and the only save of note came from Cables stopper Ben Barnes who pushed a 25-yard drive by Sean Miller past the upright.

Trafford manager Tom Baker was forced to withdraw centre half Paul Linwood at half time due to injury and nine minutes into the second period the hosts struck again when Josh Klein-Davies broke clear down the centre with the visitors vainly appealing for offside and blasted the ball past the advancing Grant Shenton.

Lee Neville squandered a half-chance at the back post following a Jack Dorney cross but it was the home side who were in the ascendancy and Klein-Davies struck a superb volley inches over just past the hour mark.

Cables winger James Edgar then fired just wide of the near post before the tie was effectively sealed in the 77th minute when substitute and ex-Trafford winger Michael Monaghan was tripped by Steve Mason and dusted himself down to fire the resulting penalty into the bottom corner to make it 3-0.

Despite the magnificent support of the travelling Trafford fans, the visitors were unable to mount a fightback and can look back on a reasonable season in which they finished sixth in the league and reached the final of the Manchester Premier Cup.