Leighton Town came from behind to earn their first point of the season against Northwood at Bell Close on Saturday, writes Hannah Sellman.
Danny Watson’s second half strike cancelled out Nick Turner’s opener to earn Town a share of the points in Craig Bicknell’s first Calor League Division One Central game in charge.
But he was dealt a dilemma before the game even started, with two injuries, two suspensions and holidays ruling out five players.
Leighton kicked off the first half and they carved themselves an early opening, though Aaron Morgan couldn’t convert his early chance, firing powerfully at the Northwood keeper.
A playful tug on Danny Watsons’ shirt saw him win a free kick, which was taken by Phil Draycott and was wide of the post, yet another missed opportunity to take an early lead.
It was end-to-end action with Northwood then winning two corners on the trot.
The first hit the post, but the second one found Nick Turner who slotted the ball through Dan Childs’ legs in the eighth minute to put Northwood 1-0 up.
Leighton responded quickly to the goal and had yet another chance to score. Tyrone Taylor played the ball to Mark Bunker who tried to curl the ball into the net, however Berkley Laurencin stretched up high and pushed the ball over the bar for a corner.
With Leighton having most of the possession they kept sending the ball into the box.
Draycott, Chris Crook and Jamie Nicholls were playing some great football in the midfield, but the killer ball to Morgan was too long each time.
Leighton should have levelled the scoring after 22 minutes when Draycott played the ball down the line for Watson, who in turn slid in Morgan who was one-on-one with Laurencin. But although his shot was powerful it failed to make an impact.
Town were really pushing for an equaliser, but couldn’t make the breakthrough.
In fact it was Northwood who almost doubled the lead before half time, when, eight minutes before the break, Dave Lawrence’s free kick sailed over Town’s wall, and needed Childs to be at full stretch to keep it out.
The second half saw Northwood nearly score from the word go, when Alvin Rajaram miss-judged the bounce of the ball and gave Ehui a chance to score but he hit the ball wide.
Both teams seemed to have picked up the pace of the game and were eager to try and win the three points.
Town drew level four minutes into the second half though, when Draycott sailed past two defenders, before pulling the ball back to Watson, who didn’t need a second chance to equalise.
But Northwood could have retaken the lead again when Child spilled the ball from a routine catch, but the Northwood attack weren’t quick enough to react to the loose ball before the keeper pounced.
A free kick on the hour mark taken by Draycott saw him hit the ball on target but Laurencin held the ball firm.
Leighton continued to force the issue and search for the goal to put them in front. Bunker played a lovely ball to Watson but he was offside as other opportunity went awry.
Leighton made their first substitution in the 67th minute bringing on an injured Christian Lester in place of Paul Lyon to try and get that all important second goal.
The 71st minute saw Leighton battle hard to win themselves a corner which saw Lester curve the ball just over the bar.
Play was stopped a few moments later for Rajaram who looked like he was suffering from cramp in his calf.
The last 10 minutes of the game saw Leighton intensify, determined to try and win the first game of the season.
A long kick from Child landed at Watson’s feet and ended up finding its’ way to Draycott, who hit the ball but it was cleared off the line by Laurencin.
Lester was up next for a shot at goal after receiving the ball from Rajaram, he hit the ball low and hard but once again was denied a goal. A second substitution saw an injured Nicholls replaced with Stephan Kemongoa.
Both teams had a last chance at scoring a winning goal in the final minute. Draycott found Watson but the ball got lost in the box between numerous defenders and was eventually cleared to the other end of the pitch, where Child was left one-on-one with Lawrence but managed to stick his foot out at exactly the right moment to stop the ball from going into the net.
In all, a draw was probably hard on Leighton, but they have another chance to get their first win on the board tonight (Tuesday) against Marlow.