Harry McGee opens the scoring against former club
Breck old boy McGee celebrates with fellow midfielder Jay Harris.
Runcorn Linnets 3 Lower Breck 2
Report by Dave Bettley; Pictures by Ben Jackson
Desperate for a good performance, Linnets duly delivered it to infllct a first campaign defeat on Lower Breck.
Anything other than victory would have been a travesty and the hosts played out a tense four minutes of stoppage time after the Anfield visitors had notched their second of the evening in the last of the 90.
Runcorn had gone into half-time with the slenderest of leads but it could and should have been more.
Harry McGee's 29th-minute diving header was their only tangible reward for their first-half superiority.
However, Linnets been denied an earlier breakthrough as Matty Whittingham was flagged offside in the act of scoring.
It was a decision nobody inside the ground had anticipated when the young midfield man latched onto a through ball by Conor Harwood to slot home.
The move stemmed from a smart turn in midfield by the assisting centre forward Harwood on his first Runcorn start.
While McGee's goal had given Runcorn the statistical edge, Harwood's contribution was equally important - the hosts being able to call on a specialist nine for the first time since the opening day of the season.
Runcorn could quite easily have gone into the break with a three or four-goal cushion but it seemed as if misses might cost them when Breck equalised within six minutes of the restart.
Little had been seen of the away side as an attacking force. But two Breck players included in last season's NPL West Team of the Year combined in devastating fashion.
Right winger Alex Cherera embarked on a telling crossfield run, picking out No.10 Sam Burns outside the box for an exquisite low finish into the right corner.
Nick Rushton (No. 12) heads Runcorn back in front at 2-1 with his third goal of the season.
The blow could easily have upset Runcorn's equilibrium but within 10 minutes, they were back in front.
Whittingham's 61st-minute free-kick from the right of the penalty area found Nick Rushton at the far post for the early replacement to power home his header.
A third of the season restored the former Vauxhall Motors man's outright lead in the club's scoring charts - soon after McGee had gone level with two.
Elliot Morris saw a left-foot stinger bring an fine reactipn save from Breck 'keeper Alex Brown.
But Runcorn gained the extra breathing space they craved - and ultimately needed - in the 75th minute.
Noah Roberts, introduced seven minutes earlier in a triple Linnets change, got a vital boot to a the ball over the top.
The teenager's touch took him past Brown, who was forced to haul him down.
Dec McLoughlin, another of the Runcorn substitutes, was confidence personified from the spot.
An impeccable penalty, low inside the left upright, had Brown diving the opposite way.
Showing six changes from Saturday's starting line-up, Runcorn knew from the start that they would need to be at their best to defeat an excellent Lower Breck team.
The Liverpudlians had won all three games so far in league and cup, after being Play-off semi-finalists, along with Linnets, last season.
Having scored the away side's opener, Burns then supplied a teasing cross from which Billy Edmondson converted with his head to give Breck team late hope.
But Runcorn clung on for a precious victory.
After the brickbats thrown by supporters after the weekend's FA Cup exit, there were only bouquets this time for a much-improved team display in which individual battles had been won across the park.
Harwood was undeniably man-of-the match.
His race unsurprisingly run by the 70th minute after his pre-season injury struggles, Runcorn had the luxury of being able to send on a like-for-like replacement.
Lewis Buckley returned from a four-game absence with a broken toe to face his previous club .
The only real downsides for Linnets were injuries sustained by Matty Rain and McGee. Rain's withdrawal led to wide man Whittingham resuming makeshift left-back duties.
The win lifts Runcorn to fourth place. It's a slightly misleading positon since they have played more matches than most other teams but encouraging nevertheless.
Linnets take a break from league action this Saturday, instead visiting Sheffield-based Stocksbridge Park Steels of NPL's East Division in the First Qualifying Round of the Isuzu FA Trophy.
The Yorkshiremen have taken one point from nine in the league to date but advanced in the Emirates FA Cup on Saturday, when defeating Midland League Premier Division visitors Cheadle Town by the only goal.
Runcorn Linnets: Calvin Hare, Ollie Southern, Matty Rain (Nick Rushton, 38 mins), Peter Wylie, Scott Holding, Jacques Welsh (Callum Leigh, 86 mins), Elliot Morris (Lewis Buckley, 69 mins), Jay Harris, Conor Harwood (Noah Roberts, 68 mins), Harry McGee (Dec McLoughlin, 69 mins), Matty Whittingham.
Attendance: 604.