Report by Paddy Gladman

After a tough opening half-an-hour where neither side created many chances, Cleeve found took the lead against the run of play.

A lovely team goal down the right flank resulted in Blaine Waugh picking out Jay Malshanskyj with a pinpoint cross; leaving the forward with the simple task of heading into the bottom right corner from close range, which he did with aplomb!

Bashley were unable to respond before half-time and could’ve gone two down in the fifty third minute when Ethan Dunbar reached the bi-line and cut the ball back to Ross Langworthy. Unfortunately for the Cleeve faithful, their usually so reliable captain rushed his effort, scuffing the ball agonisingly wide of the mark.

Such a miss gave the visitors hope and after persistent pressure, they found an equaliser in the seventy seventh minute …
A dangerous set piece was swung from the left into a crowded Cleeve penalty area, and after a couple of defensive blocks the ball soon fell to Brett Williams who lined up a precise left footed half-volley through the wall of desperate defenders and into the back of the net.

Both sides hunted for a winner late on, but it was Bashley who had all the momentum behind them.
Fortunately for Paul Collicutt he had a resilient defence at his disposal as well as a top-level goalkeeper in Lewis Clayton whose reflexes denied the Bash twice in stoppage time.

At the death, Clayton was eventually beaten as Bashley flooded the box once more and were able to get a header past Clayton’s claws. However, Josh Nelmes was on-call, on the goal line in the final seconds of stoppage time head clear; ensuring that his unbeaten start to life as a Mitre continued and to earn a vital point that manager: Collicutt, said was: “very, very pleasing” as he believes his side “would’ve lost that game, last year” and that it was definitely “a point gained, rather than two points lost”.

The draw leaves Cleeve 9th place in the league table, while Bashley lie in 15th, but with full belief in themselves to rise up the table with 3 games in hand on the Mitres.