Nuneaton Town 0-0 Bradford Park Avenue

Boro made an unusually slow start and struggled to hit their straps early on against a well organised Bradford outfit. Tom Elliott saw an early strike deflected wide, whilst at the other end the visitors almost threatened in behind and saw an Oli Johnson cross beaten away by Dean Lyness.

Although it appeared that it was the away side who were frustrated as Nicky Clee made a cynical challenge on defender Ryan Johnson and with 20-minutes on the clock Boro found their feet.

A smart corner routine saw Ryan Beswick find Nicholson in space. The man on loan from Peterborough set himself, but could only rifle his left footed effort off target. Before Ashley Chambers went even closer, when his close range effort took a deflection that saw it loop agonisingly onto the roof of the net.

Attacker Daniel Nti was next to go close as Boro continued in their search of the opener. The frontman found space in-between centre half and full back, but his fierce strike was superbly pushed away by Steve Drench in the Park Avenue goal.

That proved to be the final opportunity in an opening 45 minutes characterised by a mix of strong and at times fortuitous defending.

However Boro carried that momentum into the second half with James Ferry shooting just wide and Chambers seeing his curling strike cleared off the line by Bradford’s Matt Hill.

Although it was some sloppy defending from Nuneaton that almost twice gifted the visitors a goal. On both occasions it was the number nine Adam Boyes who should have scored, first blazing over in front of goal and then dragging an effort wide when he had time. Yet they did test Lyness in the Boro goal, when moments later the stopper was at his best to claw a free kick away that seemed destined for the top corner.

The free-flowing pattern of the second period continued and Nti thought he had opened the scoring in the 68th minute. After a corner was only half cleared Chambers’ delightful chip to the far post was met by the forward, with his header miraculously saved by Drench in the Bradford Goal.

Boro were then handed an added boost as they hunted the winner when Danny Boshell was given his marching orders for a second yellow card offence.

But what had been increasing pressure quickly amounted to an onslaught as Boro looked to capitalise on their man advantage.

However despite Boro’s best efforts the away side did not yield and the points were shared, as Nuneaton’s unbeaten run goes on with seven points claimed out of the last nine available.