Euxton Villa (1)   1        Eagley (1)   1

Martin

This was a highly charged affair with both sides committed to taking maximum points. Villa started well, coming close with a free kick after two minutes, and getting even closer a minute later as a move down the right resulted in John Winstanley releasing Anton Martin whose low shot forced the Eagley keeper into a save. The game now settled into a midfield battle for supremacy with the two sides cancelling each other out. This resulted in very few attempts on either goal.

The stalemate was broken after 38 minutes when the visitors were awarded a penalty for a tackle in the box. The Eagley penalty taker made no mistake from the spot. It was important that Villa responded quickly, and they did five minutes later when a good ball from midfield put in Guy Clarkson on the left, his cross found Anton Martin who lifted the ball over the Eagley keeper to bring the scores level.

Villa began the second half well and were now starting to dictate the play. Within five minutes of the restart good work by Sam Shone and Anton Martin set up a half chance for Guy Clarkson. Two minutes later Guy Clarkson again came close with a long range effort which just cleared the bar. Villa continued to press and on 54 minutes a ball into the box was flicked just wide of the post by James O' Loughlin. The visitors also had chances and on the hour came close when they created a one on one with Keeper Shaun Gibbs who was relieved to see the final shot go wide.

The second half was now a much more open game, on 62 minutes Mick Bradshaw turned in the box only to see his low shot saved . Villa pressed again and a minute later Sam Shone put a shot over the bar. After 70 minutes Liam Conway came on and immediately caused the Eagley defence problems as a run down the right saw him cut inside and hit the post with a left foot shot. Two minutes later he forced the visitors to concede a free kick on the edge of the box. From the ball in it was Liam Conway who was first to react forcing the keeper to save low to his left.

The Villa pressure was restricting the visitors to breakaways, but these proved to be extremely dangerous as twice within the space of five minutes they hit the post. Villa were not finished and could have won it at the end when Anton Martin came close with a header. In a very tight game a draw was probably a fair result taking Eagley to six games unbeaten.

Team    -   Gibbs, C. Chambers, Dickinson, Crombie, Dowling, ( Bradshaw ) Winstanley, Broadbent, ( Baker ) O' Loughlin, Clarkson, ( L. Conway ) Shone, Martin.