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Terrors can be very pleased with their afternoons work as a backs to the wall
performance earned them a deserved share of the points.
Referee Makay clearly enjoyed the warm welcome afforded to all by this friendly club and seemed to feel obliged to repay them with some generous decisions. First to notice this largesse was Jo 'Dame Margot' Flack, master of the dying swan and bravely playing in a strong breeze without the aid of sabilisers. Merely being in the vicinity of an opponent was enough to trigger another spasm or swallow dive, which in turn set off
remedial action by the smitten official.
However, the home side were quite capable of taking the game to Tooting without any artificial assistance and most of the match was played in the
Terrors half. Shortly after Dame Margots opening performance Baker worked his way into the
area, forcing Dave King into the first save of a busy afternoon, a brave gather at the forwards feet.
Aaron Goode picked up a soft booking for dissent and
this was to have serious consequences later in the half when he attempted to break up
the scuffle that followed an unnecessarily late tackle by Jamie Byatt.
Manuella saw fit to run the width of the pitch to fan the
flames, but was not punished for his efforts thanks to the rose
tinted MaKay. Goode, though, was less fortunate and
collected the second caution that earned him an early
bath.
Just before the sending off incident Terrors had fired their first shot, a Dean Hamlin 30 yard
screamer that flew a yard wide. Sadly this was as close as Terrors were gong to get all afternoon.
Paul Vines engineered a half chance following some good work by Henry just before the break, but for the rest of the match he was to plough a lone furrow
up front as his fellow striker dropped back to help out the midfield.
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The second period
unsurprisingly delivered predominantly one way traffic, with Town creating three chances in the first ten minutes alone. Fortunately Dave King was in
masterful form and had the full support of a
switched on defensive line.
Midway through the half Allan McLeod replaced
the exhausted Colin Hartburn, who had covered every blade of grass ten times
over, epitomising the effort put in by the
entire team. Second sub Sam Clayton wasted perhaps the best chance after Joe Vines, in a rare excursion into the opposition penalty area, had set him up. However,
the shot was rushed and sailed well over the bar.
Paul Vines had carbon copy headers directed wide of the upright within minutes of each
other towards the end, but the home side continued to press, calling King into action on several occasions. Nevertheless,
the feeling that a point was ours remained, with only the danger of another dose of
Makay generosity likely to affect the outcome,
something that nearly came to pass when Baker had a touch of the Flacks
by crumbing into a theatrical heap just before the onset of
eight minutes injury time (a not unreasonable amount as there had been an extended stoppage
following a clash of heads - one that Makay got right!).
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