Already aware that there would be no appointed referee, the Puriton management were then informed at 5:00am on the morning of this game that their regular goalkeeper had failed a late fitness test so it was touch and go whether the game would even be played.
However, United's player-manager Rich Jennings took centre stage and duly refereed the game and both teams started brightly with Puriton's Lee Mitchell and Glastonbury's number ten both going close in the early stages.
Much of the play was in the centre of the park and with thirty minutes on the clock the game remained goalless.
Then, on 37 minutes, a good cross from Ryan Williams found Lee Mitchell who ran past two players and struck a fine shot in the bottom right-hand corner. Mitchell seemed to be back to his best in front of goal.
However, five minutes from half time a corner from Glastonbury was headed in the bottom corner to make it 1-1.
Puriton then stepped up a gear and a fantastic ball from Darryl Taylor to Mitchell saw the striker take it in his stride but he was hacked down in the area as he was about to pull the trigger and the ref duly pointed to the spot.
In-form Darryl Taylor, who had never missed a penalty in his life, stepped up but somehow dragged the ball wide to keep the score at 1-1.
Glastonbury started playing the ball around well after the interval and had Puriton on the back foot for most of the first fifteen minutes and made it pay when United didn't pick up the Glastonbury number 10 who rifled the ball home from 15 yards.
Then, in the 75th minute, when Puriton had almost given up hope of scoring again, having had 10 to 15 shots brilliantly saved by the Glastonbury keeper, up popped Lee Harvey with a thunderbolt header in the bottom left-hand corner from a Dean Taylor cross to level the scores at 2-2.
Puriton pressed and pressed for a winner but again some fantastic saves kept them out and they eventually had to settle for a hard-won point.
The Man of The Match went to Lee Harvey for a solid display yet again.
Team: Gk-Dan Jennings, LB-Matt Holt, RB-Craig Evans, CB-Ben Pollard, CB-Lee Harvey, RM-Dean Taylor, LM-Rich Harvey, CM-Ryan Williams, CM-Paul Hancock, ST-Lee Mitchell, ST-Darryl Taylor
(Story First Published: 05.12.04) |
