NAILSEA & TICKENHAM RES 2 TIMSBURY ATHLETIC 2
Timsbury’s away-day blues continued, although this time they did manage to salvage a point, with an equaliser in the dying minutes to make it 2-2 in this Somerset County Division One match.
Nailsea were far the better side in the first twenty minutes, with Timsbury chasing shadows for the most part. Despite this, they could have taken an undeserved lead when a Nix cross was bundled home at the far post, only to be disallowed for offside.
On twenty minutes, Nailsea’s domination finally paid off when a corner from the right was headed back across goal by O’Reilly and volleyed home by Willshear to make it 1-0. Timsbury were finding it difficult to cope with the skill and speed of Berry, who was the orchestrator for most of the home side’s attacks.
Against the run of play, Timsbury levelled the match. A long-ball from Nix was only half-headed clear to Lutwama, who, from the edge of the box, somehow managed to wrap his foot around a rising ball to volley an unstoppable shot into the top corner.
The game became more even, with Cook shooting across the face of goal after being put through by Lutwama, then Berry picked the ball up on the half-way line, evading several tackles before seeing his shot turned around the post by Phillips in the Timsbury goal. Then on the stroke of half-time, a Nix free-kick found Hancock with acres of space on the penalty spot, only for him to completely miss his kick when a goal seemed certain.
Timsbury started the second half in a far more positive fashion, with shots from Taylor and Lutwama narrowly missing the target. Then, a corner from the right fell to Bishop, who had his shot blocked twice before his third attempt was superbly pushed around the post by Cooper in the home goal.
In a carbon copy of the first half, the home side took the lead – this time against the run of play, when a quick break down the left from Berry ended with his cross evading all the backtracking defenders, before reaching an unmarked Towill at the back post, who was left with the easiest task of firing home to make it 2-1.
Lutwama and Cook combined well to find Midgeley, whose shot curled wide from the edge of the box. A free-kick from the right found the head of Neilson, but it was easily saved by Cooper. A long-range free-kick from Taylor deceived everyone when it bounced inside the six-yard box and ended up nestling on the top of the net, when it looked like a certain goal.
Hallett made a goal-line clearance after a defensive mix-up almost ended in disaster. Then, with the clock running down, a Lutwama corner from the right fell to the feet of Hancock, who made no mistake to level the score, making amends for his earlier miss.
Rob Veater