Town recovered from being behind at the break to draw 1-1 at Bristol Manor Farm in a top of the table Evo-Stik League clash yesterday evening (28th November).
A match of few clearcut opportunities saw Jordan Metters fire the hosts in front after 18 minutes from Ben Bament’s cross but despite having several half chances the Peacocks trailed at half time. A completely dominant second half performance eventually led to the Peacocks equalising after 68 minutes when Pierce Mitchell’s drive was diverted into his own net by Farm defender Lloyd Mills. Town could not translate their supremacy into further goals though as Manor Farm hung on thanks to backs to the wall defending and their keeper Ashley Clark who made several saves, most importantly a superb reaction tip over to deny Pierce Mitchell’s header. The point though extends Town’s advantage at the top to four points and a minimum of two games in hand on their nearest rivals.
Reaction | Manager Leigh Robinson observed: “Pretty mixed feelings after the game really. On one hand and on paper it’s a decent point as we gave a lot on Saturday, and away to a side sitting in third on a cold Tuesday night is never a bad thing but the way the game actually went we were disappointed not to end up with three points, especially after such a dominant second half display. It took us a while to get going, Manor Farm play the sloping pitch at their place well and they came out guns blazing which we knew they would but other than the goal which was a bit of an unfortunate slip on our behalf they didn’t cause us a great deal of problems in the first half which we grew into as it went on. The second half was almost one way traffic and we threw everything at them but in fairness they defended their box pretty well and the keeper made a couple of excellent saves. On the whole a decent night’s work. The desire and will to win was definitely still there from the players so no complaints from me. We just had a night where we weren’t our sharpest or most clinical in front of goal, nor did we get the breaks in the box, but we take our point and move on.”
Chris McGrath said: ” I thought it took us about 20 to 25 minutes to get going but once we figured out the way they were playing and settled down to the way we like to play we never looked back. We came out second half knowing what had to be put right and in those 45 minutes I felt we completely dominated. We got ourselves back in it and after that could only see one winner. I reckon that if there had been another five to ten minutes play we would have left with three points, not one.”