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Whelan rescues a point for Shortwood as play-off hopes hit the buffers

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Shortwood 1 Carterton 1 – UHL Hellenic League Division 1

Shortwood rescued a point late on against struggling Carterton on Saturday, a game which in some ways resembled the draw with Newent just after Christmas, with Wood unable to make their apparent superiority count, writes Harry Ash.

The hosts settled relatively quickly, establishing their patient possession approach in their own half before looking to threaten the Carterton goal, which happened for the first time after ten minutes, Jack Gardner breaking down the right before cutting back to Dan Gayner, who skewed his shot wide. 

Gardner hit the woodwork five minutes later, his looping effort from distance catching Darby Wood unawares and bouncing back off the crossbar. Elliot Martin came close too following a mazy run, but he could only find the side-netting from a tight angle. 

The best chance of the half came with twenty minutes played. Gayner slipped Gardner through on goal, but his shot was well saved by Wood. The ball dropped for Martin though, who looked to have a relatively simple finish, but he was denied by a brilliant block from Ben Brown.

Martin continued to be at the heart of Shortwood’s attacking play, nearly presenting Dom Kent with a tap-in, before combining well with Nathan Payne on the edge of the area, but Payne took the ball wide and couldn’t squeeze it past Wood.

Carterton weren’t nonentities from an attacking standpoint in the first half, but lacked cutting edge in front of goal, typified by their best moment coming when the ball sat up nicely for Liam Day to strike, but he blazed it high and wide.  

That latent threat from the visitors came into full view at the start of the second half, with Shortwood struggling to cope at times.

Allando Davies struck the post just after the restart, following some good work on the right by Kieran Day. Davies then capitalised on a poor clearance from Joe Wright, lifting an effort over the Shortwood keeper and into the net, but Shortwood were saved by the assistant’s flag.

It took nearly fifteen minutes for Shortwood to reassert themselves, Byrnes combining well with Joe Williams, but the former’s shot and follow-up header were both well saved by Wood. 

A few minutes later Byrnes found Gardner running in behind, he cut it back to Gayner once again, but the finish, once again, lacked conviction and was comfortably fielded by Wood. 

Some slick combination play around the box, Gardner to Gayner, Gayner to Martin, produced another chance from around the penalty spot, but the shot wasn’t struck cleanly and Carterton survived another scare.

And with ten minutes to play Carterton capitalised on Shortwood’s wastefulness. Josh Crossman played a nice ball into substitute Israel Onibudo, who turned and crossed low into the path of Kieran Day, the ball squirming through Wright and in. 

Suddenly Shortwood had a rescue mission on their hands, and a goal wasn’t looking all that likely until, deep into added time, Payne’s corner caused chaos in the area, and Ollie Whelan, lurking just out of shot, was able to pounce on a loose ball to ensure that the spoils were shared. 

Shortwood travel to Tytherington in midweek, looking to make up some lost ground in the playoff race following those two slightly dispiriting home draws.

Shortwood: Wright, Williams (Pryce), Richardson (King), Byrnes, Tryner, Whelan, Gardner (King E), Kent, Payne, Martin (Marshfield), Gayner (Bradshaw)

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