Welton's promotion hopes are still alive and kicking after a cracking game at West Clewes that saw second-placed Cribbs leave with a vital point, despite the onslaught from Welton that nearly saw the home side gain all three points with a quality team effort.
The game started in front of a large crowd of nearly 140 and the first effort of the game saw a long-range effort from Dom Graffagnino, safely gathered by Andy King in the Welton goal.
Welton responded and good play by Michael Jones saw him beat two men, find Ricky Scott in space, who in turn found Mark Reynolds, but he was closed down and the ball went free. Welton continued to press for the opening goal and quality play by Jones saw him set up Chris Peck, whose square ball fell to Reynolds and his goalbound effort was saved by the trailing legs of Cribbs keeper, Matt Turner.
Welton then had a good penalty shout turned down after Dan Cottle was caught by Mason Winter in front of the assistant referee, but despite the cries from the Green Army, no penalty was given. Tom Pawley was then brought down on the edge of the area, as Welton continued to probe, his free kick was met by Reynolds, who rose above the defence, only to see his header crash against the Cribbs bar and the rebound fall to Ritchie Chandler, but his effort went wide. Just before the half-time whistle, a rare attack from the visitors saw former Welton striker, Andy Forward's close range-header go wide of the target.
The second half started in dramatic fashion after only a couple of minutes, when the lively Cottle raced into the Cribbs penalty area, only to be unceremoniously brought down and referee, Williams, had no problem in awarding the penalty kick.
Up stepped Reynolds, who made no mistake as he drilled his spot kick straight down the middle and into the net. The visitors responded and a good run from Ryan McKilliop saw his shot fly into the side netting.
The visitors continued to mount a charge on Welton and Andy King was on fine form to deny Dave Gilroy with a fantastic one-handed save. Welton were on the back foot as Cribbs pressed for the equaliser and a long-range effort from Tom Burns went close. Welton managed to escape the pressure and a stunning volley from Peck saw Turner bring off an outstanding save to deny Welton a second goal.
With ten minutes remaining, Cribbs equalised when Tom Morgan was found in space on the right and his first-time speculative shot flew over Andy King and as everybody in the ground thought it was going over, the ball suddenly dropped and crept into the top of the net to equalise for the visitors.
It's all in Welton's hands now as they need four more points to gain promotion, with two games in hand, home to Hengrove on Tuesday and away next Saturday at Cheddar – this is a vital week for Welton.