Long Eaton:
Ashley Whelehan, Martin Roome, Gareth Northover, Josh Watts {Capt.}, Lynton Francis, Robert Mulonga, Daniel Kilbourne, Simon Gleave, Jack Whieldon, Joe Steed & Sam Hawkins
Subs:
Ashley Foster, Ndricim Krasnigi {Totti} & Darryl Hawkins

In what turned out to be a very entertaining game, high flying Teversal got the early control of the match. The home side passed the ball with great accuracy at speed and Long Eaton‘s in form defence had to be at their best to keep them at bay, with Tev’s captain Adkins proving to be a real handful!

Teversal thought that they had made their superiority count when they converted a left wing cross passed Blue’s keeper Whelehan, but the goal was ruled out as the Linesman had flagged for an earlier infringement, although he did appear to put his flag down. A few minutes later Whelehan was adjudged to have handled the ball outside of his area and was booked. This appeared to galvanise Long Eaton and as the tackles flew in, from both teams, the Blues started to match Teversal. Good efforts from Sam Hawkins and Lynton Francis narrowly missed the target before Simon Gleave weaved his way around the home defence, but hit the side netting with the goal at his mercy. Then a Steed corner was met by the irrepressible Jack Whieldon who slammed home a volley from 10 Yards to open the scoring.

Long Eaton took control of the match and should have doubled their lead, when Steed’s deft flick put Sam Hawkins through on goal with just the keeper to beat, but his shot was saved by the Teversal keeper’s legs. That miss proved to be costly for Long Eaton as Teversal equalised with their next attack.

Half Time 1-1

There were no let up in the action in the second half as the Blues tried to re-assert themselves on Teversal. With Steed and Mulonga being more dominant Long Eaton looked the more likely of the 2 sides to score. Mulonga danced nimbly passed 3 Teversal challenges before his cross was scrambled clear and when Whieldon’s exquisite through ball found Steed bearing down on goal, all the hapless Teversal defenders could do was to bring Steed crashing to the ground. The referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty kick which steed duly dispatched.

Long Eaton looked good for all 3 points , but with Teversal throwing everything at the Blues defence the home team scored an equaliser in the closing moments of the match.

Full Time 2-2

Blues Manager Leigh Booth was delighted with the teams performance, but having taken the lead twice he was disappointed not to claim all 3 points.