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Battling Blues earn point in energetic draw

Sidley United responded well to Saturday's defeat with a promising performance as they secured a 2 - 2 draw against St Francis Rangers.

Blues started on the front foot and took the lead inside two minutes. A neat one-two saw Ricky Martin put through on goal and his lofted shot went over the goalkeeper and into the net to give Sidley a dream start.

 St Francis created little but found themselves back on terms on 13 minutes as the striker beat the Sidley defenders to a header and a shot on goal was spilled by Nessling straight into the path of Charlie Pitcher who stabbed home from 5 yards. They had a chance to go in at the break in front but incredibly a ball across the goal saw their striker poke wide from what must have been 2 yards out.

However, in the second half it was St Francis who went in front when a mazy run in the box ended with a toe-poke which Nessling again could only knock down for it to be rifled home. Sidley responded well and got a deserved equaliser after some great play down the left from the again impressive Andy Hales found Terry Payne and his low shot beat the dive of the goalkeeper on 62 minutes to equalise.

Sidley had a chance to nick the points after they were awarded an indirect free-kick on the left hand side of the six yard box but St Francis blocked well and although both teams pushed hard, the game ended in a draw.

A good performance from Sidley. If we can play consistently like that, we should be confident of remaining out of danger with the remaining fixtures ahead.

Sidley Team: Nessling, Boyd, Rose, Cooper, Cruikshank, Willett (A Darby). Martin, Hales, Taylor, Pogue, Payne (C McDonald).

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