A goalless draw this may have been, but it was far from being a dull or sterile affair, with plenty of entertaining, exciting football from both sides. Villa held sway in terms of number of chances, but Turton came closest to breaking the deadlock, striking woodwork twice in each half.

 

Villa started positively, with Tom Cahill, Damien Stewart and Alf Gutteridge in turn going close inside the first ten minutes. Stewart also had an early appeal for a penalty over-ruled by the stand-in ref, who had a very good game in fact, in truth it would have been a soft award. Mark Swift had a chance to strike form just inside the box, but it fell to his weaker foot and he was not able to get the direction he intended. Minutes later Stewart suffered a similar fate, though his was much closer in and should really have been made to count.

 

Turton were having as much of the ball, but without really troubling Justin Johnston in the villa goal. However mid way through the half they saw an effort graze the bar, and not long after a thunderous shot cannoned back off the upright with Johnston rooted to the spot. Back down the other end, a powerful long ranger from Gutteridge stung the palms of Marsh as he parried to safety.

 

The second half continued in much the same vein. Inside four minutes David Heald rattled the junction of bar and post with a cross/shot that deceived Marsh. (deceived everybody actually, including Heald). Sam Bolton just failed to get direction when heading an Andy Farley floated free kick, and seconds later Cahill brought the best out of Marsh once again.

With a quarter of an hour or so to go, Turton made a couple of tactical switches, and with some of the Euxton lads now tiring having run their socks off, began to put the home side under increasing pressure. A couple of decent chances went begging, including another rasper off Johnston’s right hand post. Manager Mark McDonnell sent on fresh legs to shore things up, and indeed both Gutteridge and Cahill again went close in the dying minutes. Nevertheless it was the visitors who finished slightly the stronger, but with neither side showing signs of being content with the single point, a draw was probably about the right result.

 

Villa Line-up: Johnston, Farley, L.Chambers, Bolton, Dowling, Gutteridge, Heald (Pennington 79), Loughlin, Swift, Stewart (Salisbury 65), Cahill