Bottesford Town 2 Hallam FC 2

Despite going behind by 2 goals in the first 10 minutes of the game, Bottesford Town thoroughly deserved to share the points in a 2 – 2 thriller.
With the absence of a few players through sickness including Manager Dave Andrews, Assistant Manager John Corbett had little choice with his starting eleven.
The line up included debutant Daniel Blount at centre half who must have wondered what he had let himself into when they ‘leaked’ in 2 goals in the opening 10 minutes of the game. The first goal fell to centre forward Liam Morris who did exceptionally well to hold the ball and turn around 2 defenders before striking home his shot with keeper Rob Zand stranded in the 8th minute.
Before the Birch Park outfit were allowed to gain their composure, good play by James Cook saw him take the ball into the goal area before laying it off for Aaron Moxon to tap home goal number 2.
As the home side settled into the game, Karl slack could have done better when he found himself in a goal scoring opportunity but his effort albeit well struck went straight to keeper Daniel Costello.
The game looked as though it would be put out of reach of Bottesford when in the 15th minute following good play from Morris, his pass to Moxon should have been converted but his effort went wide of the target.
Not to be outdone, the home side tried to get back into the game and following a good run from Danny Gibbons, his final attempt narrowly went over the bar.
Whilst still applying pressure, a goal looked to be on the cards when following a poor clearance from a corner, Slack did well to get by the defender but he was denied a goal when his shot agonizingly rebounded off the post to safety.
With both teams exchanging their superiority in the game, the best chance for a goal before half time fell to the home side with Scott Wilby, but he sent his effort over the bar in the 41st minute.
Bottesford started the 2nd period of play the stronger and in the 50th minute, a long ball from Wilby was latched onto by Gibbons who was very unfortunate to see his strike deflected for a corner with the keeper beaten. Carl La Rocca did well to get above the defenders from the resultant corner kick but sent his header attempt over the bar.
Hallam responded almost catching Bottesford on the back foot when Morris sent his effort into the side netting in the 53rd minute.
On 67 minutes the home side introduced young Danny Boulton into the game and he soon made his presence felt providing that extra pace at this stage of the game which tested the visiting defence. Indeed, in the 67 minute, he supplied an excellent pass to Wilby who did exceptionally well to find the corner of the net to reduce the arrears.
The young player found himself presented with the opportunity to score himself minute’s later following good work from Slack but he went wide with his effort with the goal at his mercy.
Still pressing for a goal, an excellent through ball from Wilby beat all the defenders but there was nobody on the hand to tap the ball into the empty net with Slack eventually sending his header attempt narrowly wide of the post.
With the home side having the balance of play it only appeared a matter of time before the equaliser came along and indeed it was Scott Wilby who provided the same when following an excellent build up, he picked up the ball and picked his spot to score a well deserved goal in the 87th minute.
At the final whistle, on reflection the Birch Park outfit were well pleased to have settled for a point after such a slow start and redress the recent run of poor results.