Draw is fair result

Though both teams hit the woodwork, Shortwood and Malmesbury’s encounter was understandably lacking in an abundance of exciting attacking play, given that both teams have been without competitive football for over a month. That being said, Shortwood will be pleased with a point and a clean sheet, keeping the gap to third-placed Malmesbury at nine points, but with three games in hand.

The first chance came the way of Malmesbury’s Jamie Packer in the seventh minute, but, having been played in behind by Jack Hobson-McVeigh, Packer’s shot from a tight angle was comfortably saved by Dan Brabham, who was making his league debut for Shortwood. Packer found himself bearing down on goal again ten minutes later, but this time Brabham rushed out to meet him and smothered his shot at the edge of the box.

Shortwood’s approach of trying to maintain a relatively high defensive line may have been exploited early on by Packer, but it proved to be an effective strategy all the same. Malmesbury looked to find the head or chest of Alan Griffin to progress the ball, but given there was a lack of real pace around the targetman, Shortwood could afford to push up and leave space in behind. Not only did this approach catch Griffin offside numerous times, it also helped to prevent Malmesbury building pressure on the Shortwood goal, meaning that Griffin and his strike partner Sam Parker never got the service from wide that they undoubtedly thrive off.

Minola Marquez, with Shortwood’s first real chance, came within a foot or so of giving them the lead approaching the half-hour mark. A Shortwood corner looked to have been cleared, but Marquez won the ball back on the edge of the box before firing a right-footed shot just over the bar. A minute later, Lewis Fogg surged down the left wing before flashing a low cross into the six yard box. Malmesbury keeper Anthony Brown spilled, but just about recovered before either Marquez or Lee Bowles could pounce on the loose ball.

With just over ten minutes of the half to play, it was Malmesbury’s turn to threaten from a corner. First, Parker’s instinctive effort only found the crossbar, before Lewis Morrisey’s follow-up was cleared off the line by Jacob Nowell. In the last minute of normal time, Griffin had the ball in the net, but he had strayed offside before converting Ben Patey’s mis-hit shot.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, as both sides created flurries of chances within the space of a few minutes, punctuated by long spells of neither side looking particularly threatening.

Shortwood created the first real danger five minutes after the restart, with Nowell heading Bowles’ corner wide of the far post, before, two minutes later, Marquez’s cross from the right was headed onto his own crossbar by Zac Costello.

Malmesbury soon responded, and Parker really should have done better after he had connected with Morrisey’s cross, but his touch let him down and he couldn’t get a shot away before Brabham was able to gather.

What was probably the best chance of the match came with ten minutes to play, and it fell to Malmesbury’s Griffin. A low cross from the left by Luke Curtis found Griffin in the middle of the penalty area, but his teammate Morrisey got in his way, and his subsequent shot lacked both power and accuracy, with Brabham gathering easily.

Both sides created half chances in the dying moments, with first Marquez pulling a shot wide of the far post, before Ash Alchin, from a similarly tight angle, only found the side-netting of Brabham’s near post.

Shortwood:
Dan Brabham, Harry Purnell, Jacob Waddington, Tom Hoskins (yellow card 42’), Lewis Fogg, Jacob Nowell (C) (Shay Lyons 84’), Minola Marquez, Josh Beadle, Ellis Harper (Ben Langworthy 87’), Lee Bowles, Dylan Miles (Kenneth Mills 72’)