Hellenic League Division One West
Shortwood United 1
Newent Town 1
Play-off chasing Shortwood were forced to settle for a point by a resolute Newent Town side, who played the entire second-half with nine men, writes Harry Ash.
Earlier, in their final game of the year, Jack Gardner came close to providing a perfect start for the hosts, latching onto Dan Gayner’s hopeful ball through, but the finish when one-on-one lacked conviction.
It was Newent who took the lead though with just over ten minutes on the clock, a strong run down the right from Corey Hill resulting in a dangerous cross, captain Joe Tryner failed to clear and Deqon Ebanks was on hand to prod a finish through the legs of Joe Wright.
Shortwood responded well, finding an equaliser on the half hour, Tom King breaking through on the lefthand side of the area, his saved shot falling to Elliot Martin, who curled sumptuously into the top corner.
Martin Smith should really have made it 2-1, but his powerful header from Nathan Payne’s corner was straight at Adam Fenner.
In the closing moments of the half a poor Newent challenge on the edge of their area sparked a mass brawl, resulting in red cards for both goalscorer Ebanks and Mitchel Butterworth, as well as a shredded shirt for Payne.
On paper this clearly gave Wood a huge advantage heading into the second half. But there was a noticeable shift in mentality from both sets of players, with Newent embracing their task, knowing the pressure was off to an extent, wasting time at every opportunity, whereas Wood became slightly flustered, knowing that both patience and ball speed were required but not easy to come by, every mistake being met by increasing frustration and apprehension.
It was a hopeful restart at least, Payne’s corner causing chaos after Fenner failed to cleanly gather Gayner’s looping header, but subsequently Wood toiled for long stretches.
The next real chance came with fifteen minutes of normal time to play, Smith squaring to substitute Keegan Bowes just inside the area, but his finish lacked power and was deflected wide.
A few minutes later another substitute, Fin Byrnes, found Bowes with a precise through ball, but the cut back was struck wide by Joe Williams. The next sortie saw an unmarked Smith head Williams’ cross over the bar.
Bowes again threatened, first crossing to Gayner whose half-volleyed effort was well saved, before Bowes himself tried his luck from the edge of the box, the power nearly enough to take it past Fenner.
Newent’s endeavour to break the game up at every opportunity resulted in a thirteen minute period of added time, which the visitors themselves nearly took advantage of, their one foray forward seeing Thomas McCallum’s effort from range float over Wright’s head and bounce off the bar.One final Wood attack, and more missed chances, Ollie Whelan’s header cleared almost off the line, before Byrnes’ floated shot-cross clipped the post.
A real missed opportunity for Wood, all the more so given that half of Newent’s points this season have come at their courtesy.
Shortwood: Wright, Williams (Price), King T (Richardson), King E (Byrnes), Tryner, Smith, Gardner (Bowes), Kent (Whelan), Payne, Martin, Gayner
