FORMER skipper Asif Hussain came out of retirement to help Albion Sports secure a place in the second qualifying round of the Emirates FA Cup

He was one of the goalscorers as his side edged out Barnoldswick Town 3-3 in a dramatic finale.

Manager Kulwinder Sandhu had a handful of players missing for the tie and turned to Hussain in his hour of need.

Sandhu said: “Asif in 39 but he’s still very fit and obviously still an excellent player.

“I asked him to come out of retirement to do a job for me, well to be honest he’s never really retired, he keeps saying he’s going to but he never does.

“He’s been signed on since the start of the season and has always been around the club, he’ll help me out in the dugout if he’s not playing.”

Hussain drilled home a penalty after the Barnoldswick Town goalkeeper had pulled Danny Facey’s leg back in the area. That made it 2-0 to the Lions but Barlick came back and levelled the tie in the last minute.

Facey produced a winning goal almost three minutes into stoppage time as the tie went right to the wire and although Sandhu had used all three of his substitutes.

Hussain was still on the pitch at the end, with the boss not prepared to risk taking him off. “I though Asif played really well and his experience was crucial to us,” added Sandhu.

“He tired a bit towards the end but he’s 39, a tough game like that is going to take it out of him. I wish he was 29 again or better still 19 with his full career ahead of him. Players of his ability and loyalty don’t come along to frequently.

“We’ve got a young team here and we need a few leaders out there, especially an experienced defender with James Firth and James Gill both out. Firthy is waiting for an operation so he’s been missing for a long while and won’t be back any time soon.

“Gilly was a great fit for us but obviously he did his knee ligaments in pre-season. I still count him as one of our players though so he’s on my list of six that are all injured.”