The Peacocks fought back from a seemingly irretrievable position to draw 3-3 with Shortwood United in the Evo-Stik League yesterday afternoon (13th January).
All had appeared lost after an ineffective Town found themselves 3-0 down with less than 15 minutes to play but they turned the game around to eventually draw level well into injury time. Uncharacteristically shoddy defending saw Jordan Morris cut through to fire the visitors in front after 14 minutes but Town nearly equalised immediately when Ollie Chamberlain’s shot hit the bar. More poor defending allowed Morris to square the ball to Joe White to tap into an open goal on 28 minutes to give Shortwood a two goal lead at the break.
Despite dominating possession in the second half Town lacked any cutting edge and when Will Hawes turned to shoot home inside the post for Shortwood’s third on 76 minutes it looked curtains for the Peacocks.
However Ross Staley pulled one back two minutes later with a floated cross-shot in from the right before Dan Sullivan netted from close range a minute from time to reduce the deficit further. A penalty was then awarded for a Rich Thwaite handball five minutes into stoppage time and after the Shortwood defender had been sent off, Sullivan kept his cool to fire home the spot kick and rescue a point.
Reaction | Manager Leigh Robinson commented: “A crazy game of football but a thrilling finish for the people watching. To be honest for most of the game we were well below our best. We defended horribly for their three goals and were very wasteful in front of goal, missing the target on numerous occasions which is most unlike us. Fair play to the players though. To show that never say die attitude at 3-0 down with 12 mins to go and nick a point is a hell of an effort and shows what a great group we have. However we must improve significantly on that display on Tuesday and moving forwards, as being that flimsy in both boxes as we were for 80 minutes will always cost any team points.”