Ambers held by Swans

It was the archetypal ‘game of two halves’ at The Easy Buy Stadium, as a new look Ambers line up shared the points with a battling Barton Town side. New arrivals Josh Hemingway and Jed Phillips made their first starts for the club alongside youngster Alfie Dodsworth, whilst there were also recalls for Jonathan Hedge, Brad Nicholson and Jon Hill as Jas Colliver rang the changes following last week’s defeat to AFC Mansfield.
The Ambers started the game really strongly, with Jon Froggatt shooting narrowly wide on 3 minutes, before a Phillips strike was deflected away for a corner, Hill’s resultant header being grabbed by Swans keeper Riches on his line.
The home side however almost grabbed the lead in their first foray of note upfield, a terrific long range strike by Goddard beating Hedge but crashing against his right hand post, the lurking Terrell just failing to control the rebound.
The deadlock was broken in the 18th minute, and from an unlikely source. A free kick was hoisted into the Barton box where Hill’s header was half cleared as far as Ozzie Radford and the centre back lashed home an outstanding volley from 25 yards which beat Riches all ends up.
The Ambers were now well on top and it was only the excellence of Riches that kept The Swans in the game, as he made save after save as Handsworth swarmed forward incessantly. Radford and Cooksey headed chances wide whilst Hemingway, Hill and Froggatt were all denied by the keeper.
It wasn’t all one way traffic though, and Hedge pulled off a terrific save of his own after a good strike by the impressive Tennant, as The Swans finished the half well with some good patterns of play.
The second half was a completely different affair, as Barton grew in belief and were in the ascendancy for most of the half, with The Ambers relying on breakaways to stem the tide. Hill was forced off injured around the hour mark and his aerial ability was a big miss as the heavy pitch began to take its toll on the visitors.
The Ambers were defending solidly as Barton continued to press and an extra defender was brought on in the shape of Will Eades as the game entered the closing ten minutes, but the defence was finally breached after 84 minutes when Tennant hooked the ball home after a goalmouth scramble for a deserved equaliser.
Either side could then have taken all three points as they went toe to toe and created chances at either end in the last few minutes, Froggatt having the best of The Ambers opportunities, before Hedge recovered superbly after slipping, to deny the onrushing Flowerdew who was clean through.

HE Barnes Man of The Match – Jonathan Hedge