Northwood Res. 1 Southall Res. 1
Saturday 14th September 2013
NORTHWOOD RESERVES | Suburban League North Division |
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Team line-up |
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1 | Jake Knight | |
2 | Alex Nolan | |
3 | Oliver Sprague | |
4 | Steve Brown | |
5 | George McCluskey | |
6 | James Duncan (62m) | |
7 | Mark Burgess | |
8 | Dave Lawrence | |
9 | Sonny Bailey-Aird (62m) | |
10 | Luke Wells (65m) | |
11 | Garry Senior | |
Substitutes | ||
12 | Simon Huggett (65m) | |
14 | Charlie Parker (62m) | |
15 | Tom Pegrum (62m) | |
16 | James Burgess | |
17 | - | |
Mark Burgess will have taken several positives having taken over this Suburban League game to get ninety minutes into a number of players lacking match-fitness but will have been disappointed that his side were unable to take all three points.
Steve Brown, George McCluskey and Dave Lawrence would have benefited most from the run-out and both grew into the game as it progressed but the whole side lacked a sharpness at the start which allowed the unbeaten visitors to settle and gain in confidence.
There was little to write about in a dull first-half. Mark Burgess had an early effort saved and one good cross from Sonny Bailey-Aird forced a corner. From that Brown headed back across goal for Garry Senior who could only steer his header wide, but that was it.
The second period was more open and when Senior slotted in after good work and a square-ball from Lawrence on 57 minutes, the Woods should have gone on from there. But Lawrence saw another effort crash back off the crossbar and Southall goalkeeper Dominic Cassells made a series of good stops to deny Senior and Lawrence.
There was an excellent performance at right-back from Alex Nolan, who could well be knocking on the first-team door at some stage this season, putting in some excellent crosses, while Oliver Sprague did similar service from the left.
Southall's attacks were rare but they had a fifteen minute spell where goalkeeper Jake Knight was forced into action on a couple of occasions and he could do nothing to prevent the visitors equaliser on 71 minutes as Ahsan Baker broke into the box and finished neatly.
Three minutes from time, Northwood should have regained the lead. Mark Burgess slipped a good ball into Nolan who broke clear and knocked it across to Senior but with an open goal in front of him, him, his goalbound shot was superbly blocked by the leg of Southall's solid veteran defender Kris Barrett.
Cassells saved late on when substitute Charlie Parker went for goal but in the end, the scores remained level.
REPORT by Alan Evans