UNSETTLED

Rugby 1 Yeltz 0

The mighty Yeltz are looking a lot less likely to challenge for the league title after losing 1-0 to second-placed Rugby. It was a pretty disappointing display, even though we probably had the better of a poor game without really threatening until the last few minutes. With Redditch winning again we're a long way behind now even if we do win our games in hand.

Not being a regular at the games it's often difficult for me to comment, but watching yesterday was very frustrating. We don't have a settled nucleus of a team, and this is bound to show when we need to pull together in situations like yesterday. However good some of these temporary signings are, they're not really going to give absolutely everything if they're just playing to get fit or waiting for something better to turn up. Obviously just one not very informed person's opinion though.

Anyway we've got the irrelevant Worcester Senior Cup on Monday, before visiting Gresley next week in the league. With the FA now ratifying the Conference Division One for next season, we need to continue our steady run of form to ensure we finish in the top seven to get into one of the leagues below the new divisions.

DRAW AGAIN

Shepshed 2 Yeltz 2

The mighty Yeltz again failed to beat struggling Shepshed, and missed out on a chance to significantly close the gap on leaders Redditch.

We took the lead in the first half through Forsdick, but they soon equalised and then took the lead halfway through the second half, before Alfie Carter got a late equaliser. It's moved us up to 3rd in the table , but 12 points behind the leaders with only two games in hand now.

Saturday takes us to second placed Rugby United in a crucial game at the top of the league. Redditch won here last week, so I suspect if we're going to catch them we're going to have to do the same. However, we've done well against the top teams this season, so let's hope we can do it.

GRINDING IT OUT

Bedworth 0 Yeltz 1

The mighty Yeltz kept themselves in the title race on Saturday with a crucial 1-0 victory away to struggling Bedworth. A second-half goal from Simon Hollis kept us in touch with leaders Redditch, who came back from two down to beat second placed Rugby 3-2.

This week brings another set of away games - on Tuesday we travel to Shepshed, and then on Saturday we visit old rivals Rugby. Both games are very important, and if we can gain six points then I think we've really got a chance of challenging at the top. Come on!

Match Report from DJ

Bedworth Utd: Hateley; Blair (Scott 80), O'Sullivan, Stevenson, Richardson, K. Smith (Goodman 72), Massingham, S. Hadland, Wood, G. Hadland (Rhodes 54), Blake. Unused Subs: Olanipekun, Dodd

Halesowen Town: Sheils; Hollis, Carter, Grocutt (Forsdick HT), Jones, Hoyle, Spencer (Skidmore 12), Ashby, Ball, Steane, Baker. Unused Subs: N. Smith, Strachan

Referee: J. Hubbard (Leicester) Attendance: 241

Halesowen did just enough to pick up three important three points in a physical game of few chances. The game had extra spice with former Halesowen centre forward Mark Hallam now managing the Greenbacks and on a tricky playing surface the game turned into a midfield battle.

The visitors suffered a 9th minute blow when in-form Andy Spencer was stretchered off with a leg injury. Two minutes later a through ball from Jason Ashby - now to be known as Jason Moore following a name change by deed-poll - almost found Simon Hollis but Gary Hateley raced off his line to save.

Hollis then hit a 25-yard free-kick wide on 19 minutes and at the other end opposite goalkeeper Mark Sheils easily collected Guy Hadland's free-kick a minute later.

Referee Hubbard caused controversy on 22 minutes in charge of his last ever Southern League game when he stopped play for a minor midfield injury. In the meantime, Richard Ball had broken free from midfield to be clear on goal and was about to hit the target when the whistle blew. Play then resumed with a drop-kick from goalkeeper Hateley half-way inside his own half.

Bedworth's best chance fell in the 35th minute when James Wood latched onto a loose ball but Sheils produced a reflex save to turn the ball over the bar for a corner. Ashby then broke clear for the Yeltz on 43 minutes but ballooned the ball over the bar from 8 yards out. Seconds before the interval Bedworth's Marvin Blake blasted high as the hosts won two corners.

The second half continued to be a dour struggle although Ben Steane made a fine run from midfield in the 49th minute before being beaten by a combination of the pitch and a packed defence. Ashby curled wide on 56 minutes and on the hour Hateley saved at the feet of Hollis from Richard Ball's pass.

Halesowen finally broke the deadlock in the 74th minute when HOLLIS was first to the ball in the Bedworth area and rolled the ball past Hateley from close range to notch the winning goal. With six minutes remaining Sheils grabbed a deep free-kick from Darren Massingham at the second attempt and in the final minute Steane was brought down on the edge of the Bedworth penalty area but Alfie Carter struck the free-kick straight at Hateley.

LOVE ALL

Yeltz 0 Gloucester 0

The mighty Yeltz shared the points with promotion rivals Gloucester after a 0-0 draw at The Grove. Despite a much better performance than the midweek blip, we couldn't breach the Gloucester defence but both teams will be reasonably happy with the result.

We're back down to 5th in the table , but it was a pretty good day elsewhere with Redditch losing to Sutton Coldfield and Rugby losing to Stourport.

We start our epic run of away games next Saturday with a trip to Bedworth, where I think we must pick up all three points to keep in the hunt for the top spot.

Match Report from DJ

Halesowen Town: Sheils; Colwell, Charlton, Hoyle, Jones, Spencer, Foy, Ashby, Ball, Steane (Forsdick 78), Hollis. Unused Subs: Baker, Skidmore, Grocutt, N. Smith

Gloucester City: Bath; Webb, Harris (Thompson 61), Howarth, Jefferies, Burns, Mustoe, Cox (Hemming 87), Mings (L. Smith 54), Hoskins, Wilkinson. Unused Sub: Bayliss

Referee: G. Scott (Abingdon) Attendance: 431 Sponsors' Man of the Match: Andy Spencer. Booked: Hoskins (63), Charlton (85), L.Smith (83)

Gloucester goalkeeper Matt Bath denied Halesowen with a string of fine saves and crowned his impressive display by saving Jason Ashby's penalty in first-half injury time.

Despite the blank score-line the teams produced a game of high tempo and quality football with plenty of goal-mouth action. In a bright start from the Yeltz Simon Hollis fed Ashby but his 3rd minute effort was cleared off the goal-line by Dave Wilkinson and Hollis then hit an 11th minute overhead kick at Bath.

Tigers veteran Adie Harris delivered the first of three dangerous first-half in-swinging corners in the 9th minute but goalkeeper Mark Sheils did well to punch clear. Halesowen's first corner by David Foy in the 16th minute was volleyed into the area by Hollis but Dan Jones hit over the bar from close range. Richard Ball then headed a good Hollis cross wide in a flowing 19th minute move before Foy cracked a 25-yard free-kick against the left-hand Gloucester post.

Man-of-the-match Andy Spencer made a series of surging runs into the Gloucester area and shot just wide on 26 minutes before being denied by a good Bath save from his volley a minute later. A 28th minute Hollis cross skimmed the crossbar and on 32 minutes a Foy free-kick found Ball unmarked but he curled wide from 6 yards out. Gloucester defender Adam Howarth made a crucial 33rd minute clearance for a corner with Ashby rushing into the area to meet Spencer's cross after he burst clear down the right. Ben Steane then lashed a half-cleared corner past Bath's post in the 38th minute before a good Gloucester break saw Tom Webb's strike from the right fall just inches wide of the mark.

Halesowen were awarded a penalty with 45 minutes up on the first-half clock when Andy Hoskins bundled over Spencer on another run into the penalty area. However, the golden chance to break the deadlock was wasted when Bath made a great dive to his right to save Ashby's spot-kick under the cross-bar.

Halesowen found it difficult to find the vital breakthrough after the penalty miss although Spencer turned to fire high in the 49th minute. Jimmy Cox had a 59th minute penalty appeal for hand-ball turned down and on the hour player manager Chris Burns delivered a dangerous free-kick into the Halesowen area. Bath then raced out to deny Spencer in the 65th minute when substitute Lee Smith deflected Asa Charlton's 25-yard shot. Bath was quick off his line again on 76 minutes to deny Spencer and kept out Steane's 25-yard shot two minutes later.

The Tigers had their own chances to snatch the points with Sheils saving a free header from Cox on 77 minutes but a minute later lively Yeltz substitute Simon Forsdick played the ball for Spencer to earn a corner seconds after his introduction for the Yeltz. Cox then hit weakly across goal on 80 minutes when free on the right for the visitors.

In the dying minutes, Bath made a tremendous flying save to deny a Ball volley on 82 minutes following another Spencer run and in injury time Gloucester substitute Adam Hemming broke down the left and forced Sheils to save with Burns heading the resulting corner over the bar.

WHOOPS

BSC Yeltz 0 Walsall 7

I think we'll gloss over this defeat as quickly as possible - other than to say you can read the full horror story in Dave's match report .

We're back to much more important matters on Saturday when Gloucester visit The Grove in yet another important game. They're one place and one point above us at the moment having played one game more, so let's hope for another three points to keep us right in contention.

Match Report from DJ

Halesowen Town: Vaughan; Colwell, Charlton, Smith, Jones, Baker, Hollis (Steane 68), Ashby (Spencer 68), Skidmore, Ball, Forsdick. Unused Subs: Grocutt, Foy, Sheils

Walsall: Coleman; Willetts, Taylor, Stanley, Bennett, Emblen (Dann 65), Wright (Jameson 69), Lawrence, Hawley, Taylor, Matias (Harkness 64). Unused Subs: Platt, Wheeler

Referee: K. Ingram (Kingswinford) Attendance: 258

Halesowen flopped to their heaviest defeat in many seasons and were left chasing shadows as Walsall reserves strolled to victory with embarrassing ease.

But it was the home side who created a few chances on goal in the opening quarter. Richard Ball sent a dipping 20-yard shot over the bar in the 10th minute and saw his 16th minute shot blocked by goalkeeper Dean Coleman after robbing Jamie Lawrence. Coleman then gathered a 17th minute cross from Dan Jones at the second attempt and Coleman saved from Ball on 23 minutes after a good pass from debut-boy Simon Forsdick.

Walsall opened the floodgates in the 23rd minute with a simple goal after Karl Hawley fed Mark WRIGHT and a tame shot from the son of former-Yeltz favourite Evran Wright went through the hands of debut goalkeeper Nathan Vaughan from the edge of the area in a glaring error.

The Yeltz never made a game of it from that point and fell two goals behind in the 32nd minute with a long ball falling for the unmarked HAWLEY to tap home from the edge of the 6-yard box.

Forsdick broke clear on 35 minutes but wasted his chance and Walsall replied by going 3-0 ahead a minute before half-time when Vaughan failed to hold a Craig Stanley shot and Kris TAYLOR had another simple tap-in.

Although the game was well and truly over by the break the humiliation had only just begun.

Julian BENNETT fired home a fourth goal on 57 minutes from 15 yards following a Lawrence free-kick. Coleman blocked a Jones shot on the hour but a minute later Walsall walked in another goal when a Pedro Matias cross was kept in by Hawley and he crossed beyond Vaughan for WRIGHT to head home on the goal-line. Vaughan saved another decent chance from Hawley in the 62nd minute and then Hawley latched onto a through ball from Lawrence but his lob fell just wide after beating Vaughan.

Andy Spencer and Ben Steane both looked lively after being introduced as Halesowen substitutes with Spencer's 71st minute flick forcing Coleman to tip away for a corner. Good work from Steane allowed Ball to shoot in the 77th minute and on 83 and 84 minutes Coleman held onto 20-yard shots from Steane and Spencer respectively.

The visitors added two more goals in the last two minutes to coast into the semi-finals. Taylor picked up a rebound after a shot hit the Halesowen post on 88 minutes and his cross was turned into his own net by Richard COLWELL. A minute from full-time a cross from the right from Hawley was helped over the line by STANLEY to put Walsall in seventh heaven.

LATE AGAIN

Yeltz 1 Solihull 0

The mighty Yeltz gained another important three points when they snatched a late victory over rivals Solihull Borough through an 88th minute own goal. Full details in Dave's match report .

Tuesday brings Walsall to The Grove in the Birmingham Senior Cup Quarter Finals, before on Saturday we finish our epic run of eight home games on the trot when Gloucester are the visitors.

Match Report from DJ

Halesowen Town: Sheils; Colwell, Charlton, Hoyle, Jones, Spencer, Foy, Ashby, Ball (Baker 86), Steane, Hollis. Unused Subs: Skidmore, Forsdick, Grocutt, Vaughan

Solihull Borough: Gayle, Faulds, Haywood, Preston, A. Cooper, Hier, I. Cooper, Titterton, Hunter, Amos (Hawker 77), Mitchell. Unused Subs: Hamilton, Swan, Barry

Referee: C. Williams (Cheltenham) Attendance: 433 Booked: I. Cooper (43), Haywood (44), Charlton (44), Mitchell (90) Sponsors' Man of the Match: David Foy

Halesowen deserved their slender victory but had to wait for an own-goal two minutes from time in order to break the stalemate. With experienced central defender Colin Hoyle making his debut the Yeltz looked far more composed at the back than of late with Solihull proving to be ineffective in attack.

In early exchanges Mark Sheils clawed away an 8 minute corner from Dave Haywood and two minutes later Andy Spencer volleyed just over Mark Gayle's crossbar at the other end. Jason Ashby then chipped a loose ball over the Solihull bar after Richard Ball charged down a 16 minute clearance. ^{th th}

Former Yeltz goalkeeper Gayle saved an 18 minute snapshot from Andy Spencer and Ball then wasted a good pass down the right from full-back Richard Colwell a minute later with Halesowen making the most of playing with a gusty wind behind them in the first half. ^th

Asa Charlton rattled the stanchion behind the goal with a 28 minute free-kick after Spencer was brought down on the edge of the Solihull area. Simon Hollis then hit a 30-yard free-kick against the Solihull defensive wall and in the 39 minute Gayle made a fine save to deny Hollis after he picked up a pass from Colwell before side-stepping his marker to shoot. ^{th th}

Five minutes before the break Solihull's best chance of the game fell to Paul Hunter when he flew past centre-half Dan Jones and cut-in from the left but he blasted high from just 8 yards out. Jones then headed another Charlton free-kick just wide for the hosts a few seconds before the interval.

Morton Titteron curled just wide for Solihull at the start of the second half but it was Halesowen who continued to create most chances in the second half. Ball broke free on the right but lashed high on 67 minutes and David Foy hit a speculative 25-yard shot wide of the mark a minute later. Ben Steane produced a moment of midfield magic in the 70 minute allowing Spencer to cross but the Solihull defence scrambled clear from Ashby in front of goal. Ashby then latched onto a long ball from defence in the 71 minute but then lost control before Ball crashed a shot wide. ^{th st}

Hunter headed a 76 minute free-kick from Haywood into the arms of Sheils before Halesowen's Steane made another surging run but shot directly at Gayle with five minutes remaining. ^th

With the game heading for deadlock Halesowen claimed a winner with just two minutes remaining. Steane cleverly side-stepped the ball in midfield allowing Foy to play the ball out to Hollis and when he volleyed across goal Martin HIER turned the ball into his own net from close range as he attempted to clear.

News Story

Shepshed P Yeltz P

The recent wet weather meant our game on Saturday at Shepshed was called off, but it wasn't too bad a day with Redditch dropping points again. The closeness of the league means we've dropped back to 5th place in the table , but if we can put a consistent run together and win our games in hand we can still challenge for the title.

Next Saturday we play Solihull Borough at The Grove - a game we need to win to keep in touch. They're one of the teams in contention for a top seven finish, so it's a very important game once again.

ON THE UP AGAIN

Yeltz 2 Cirencester 1

This crazy season took another turn for the better last night as the mighty Yeltz beat promotion rivals Cirencester 2-1 after trailing for most of the game. Late goals from Hollis and Charlton has taken us back up to 4th in the table , and with Rugby, Bromsgrove and Team Bath all drawing it was an excellent night. Full details in Dave's match report .

On Saturday we travel to struggling Shepshed in another important game. They took a point off us at The Grove earlier in the season, and they way we're playing who knows what will happen. However, let's hope we can put a consistent run of form together from now until the end of the season.

Match Report from DJ

Halesowen Town: Sheils; Colwell, Charlton, Grocutt, Jones, Spencer, Foy (Skidmore 87), Ashby, Ball, Steane, Hollis. Unused Subs: Smith, Baker, Forsdick, Vaughan.

Cirencester Town: Thompson; Bird, McEntergart, Richards, Jackson (Bevan 84), Wootton, Robison, McCabe, Hopkins, Griffin, Fitch. Unused Subs: Davis, Wimble

Referee: M. Edwards (Swadlincote) Attendance: 231 Booked: Ball (37), Grocutt (70), Wootton (77)

Halesowen ended Cirencester's mammoth 15 game unbeaten sequence with a result that looked unlikely with just 15 minutes remaining.

The Yeltz started where they left off on Saturday and failed to produce a clear strike on goal in another poor first-half performance. By contrast, the well-organised visitors won a series of early corners and Andy McCabe delivered a 9th minute corner kick for Scott Griffin to head onto the top of the bar with McCabe crossing the ball back again to scrape the far post seconds later.

Cirencester went on to take a simple 18th minute lead with the unmarked Gareth HOPKINS rising to head home a left wing cross from six yards. Home goalkeeper Mark Sheils then did well to save when Hopkins turned to shoot on the half-hour.

Halesowen made a much brighter start to the second half with the solid Cirencester defence clearing under pressure from Asa Charlton in the 47th minute from a Simon Hollis cross. On 65 minutes Halesowen created their best chance of the game so far when Ben Steane flicked a header on for Jason Ashby to cross and the ball fell to Charlton but he blasted high from 12 yards out.

Cirencester's strategy of sitting back with their solid defence shutting-up shop for the evening seemed to be paying off until Halesowen finally found a 74th minute equaliser when Richard Ball's shot rebounded off the legs of goalkeeper Paul Thompson and HOLLIS followed up to drive home from 12 yards.

Cirencester immediately came out of their shell and broke down the other end with Hopkins getting the better of Dan Jones to become free down the right but the home defence somehow escaped a game of pinball in their own area. Halesowen's Ashby was then fouled on the edge of the Cirencester penalty area by Gary Wootton who received a yellow card and CHARLTON drove the 78th minute free-kick through a crowd of players into the bottom corner of the net to give the Yeltz the lead.

Ashby had a decent call for a penalty turned down but Cirencester poured forward to try to save the game in the dying moments. Hopkins took the ball down just six yards out in the 86th minute but Sheils stood up to make a fine blocking save. Sheils then made a weak 88th minute clearance that fell directly for Ben Fitch to unleash a 35-yard shot but the ball struck the post with Sheils frantically back-tracking. In the final minute frustrated Cirencester struck the woodwork for the fourth time when a Hopkins header crashed off the underside of the bar and the ball was once again scrambled clear.

A WASTE

Yeltz 0 Evesham 2

We missed an excellent chance to move closer to the top when we put in what sounds like a pretty poor performance in losing 2-0 at home to Evesham. Two early goals meant we failed to take advantage of both Redditch and Rugby drawing, and first place is looking increasingly a long way off.

We've slipped down to 6th place in the table now, but still have games in hand on everyone above us but Cirencester. If we assume we're playing for a spot in the top 7, then it looks like there's only 9 teams in it and we're very well placed.

Clearly Tuesday's home game against Cirencester is very important, so let's try to put today's disappointment aside and pull together to get those crucial three points.

Match Report from DJ

Halesowen Town: Sheils; Colwell (Ball 57), Charlton, Grocutt, Jones, Baker, Hollis, Ashby, Piearce, Steane, N. Smith (Skidmore 57). Unused Subs: Small, Lowry, Vaughan

Evesham United: T. Clarke; A. Smith, Burrow, Knight, Khela, Pinkney, Flynn, Marsh, Pountney (J. Clarke 65), Ross, Nicholls (Shaw 65). Unused Subs: Guest, West

Referee: W. Ramsay (Coventry) Attendance: 530 Booked: None Sponsors' Man of the Match: None selected

In-form Evesham reaped the harvest of some sloppy Halesowen defending to claim two first half goals and ruin Halesowen's unbeaten home league record into the bargain.

Tim Clarke collected a Lewis Baker header in the 5th minute and two minutes later Mark Sheils punched clear a Craig Nicholls free-kick at the other end. Steve Piearce then beat Tim Clarke to the ball in the 8th minute but with Piearce forced wide the Evesham goalkeeper was able to recover.

With Halesowen looking fragile in defence and lacking a wise head in midfield, former favourite Sean Flynn was able to dictate play and ex-goalkeeper Tim Clarke enjoyed a largely redundant afternoon for the Robins against a bumper home crowd.

The visitors were handed a 12th minute lead when a mix-up between full-back Richard Colwell and goalkeeper Mark Sheils saw COLWELL gently head a through ball from Sean Flynn past his own advancing goalkeeper with the ball trickling agonisingly over the line.

With the Yeltz continuing to blow hot and cold from one week to another, Craig Pountney helped the ball on for another former Yeltz player Lee ROSS to touch home Evesham's second goal from inside the 6-yard box on 17 minutes with the ball again trickling over the line. Sheils then gathered a 26th minute header from Pountney and made an acrobatic save to deny the unmarked Grant Pinkney nine minutes later. Two minutes before half-time Baker headed wide from an Asa Charlton cross for Halesowen.

Ben Steane had one of the better performances for the out-of-sorts Yeltz and made a dazzling 50-yard run from his own half in the 51st minute before being brought down on the edge of the Evesham box by Lee Knight - but Simon Hollis could only hit the resulting free-kick tamely at Tim Clarke. Lewis Baker headed wide on 58 minutes and Halesowen's best chance fell in the 72nd minute when Hollis combined with substitute Richard Ball to force Clarke into a diving save.

Evesham remain unbeaten for seven games in 2004 and Ross almost added insult to injury with two minutes remaining but struck the Halesowen crossbar with a curling shot from 20 yards.

COULDN'T GET MUCH BETTER

Yeltz 6 Swindon Supermarine 0

The mighty yeltz kicked off the second half of their league campaign with an emphatic 6-0 victory over Swindon Supermarine. With both Redditch and Rugby losing, we've made up some important ground at the top of the table .

Jason started things off with two first half goals - his first for eight games - before second half goals from Spencer, Steane, Frazer McHugh (back whilst looking for another club) and Baker turned it into something of a rout.

Next Saturday Evesham are the visitors to The Grove. They're on a pretty decent run at the moment including beating Redditch, but it's important we continue our run of victories.

Match Report from DJ

Halesowen Town: Sheils; Colwell, Charlton (Small 66), Grocutt (Smith 64), Jones, Baker (Skidmore 70), Hollis, Ashby, Spencer, McHugh, Steane. Unused Subs: Lowry, Vaughan

Swindon Supermarine: King; Toomey, Futcher, Bennett, McCluskey (Grainge 62), Copp, Edwards, Terry, Carter (Gee 76), Miller, Matthews (Blastland 62). Unused Subs: Slattery, Gill

Referee: P. Martin (Wellingborough) Attendance: 436 Booked: Carter (71) Sponsors' Man of the Match: Simon Hollis

Halesowen smashed Swindon for six of the best with ex-Bradford City midfielder Fraser McHugh running the show from midfield in a devastating display of quality finishing.

In a lively opening Jason Ashby picked up a poor clearance from Swindon goalkeeper Tom King in the 4th minute but turned to fire just wide. Justin Miller headed across the Halesowen goal in the 10th minute but it was McHugh who set up Andy Spencer to strike a ten yard shot off the Swindon crossbar in the 10th minute. Home goalkeeper Mark Sheils then made a good save from Justin Miller and Jimmy Carter in the 25th minute after the Swindon forwards picked up a loose ball.

League-leading marksman Ashby then set Halesowen on their way with two goals within ninety seconds. On 28 minutes ASHBY latched onto a poor defensive header to beat King with a cheeky chip from 18-yards. McHugh then played a splendid ball through to Ben Steane and he crossed for ASHBY to head home a second goal from five yards in the 30th minute. Five minutes before half-time Sheils protected Halesowen's lead by gathering a 25-yard free-kick from Simon Futcher.

STEANE added a third goal to remember for the Yeltz in the 51st minute when he won the ball in midfield and unleashed a magnificent powerful, dipping shot into the top corner of the net from 35-yards to the gasping delight of the home crowd. With the home side running riot, the unmarked McHUGH made it 4-0 a minute later by cracking home into the bottom corner from 10-yards. The rampant Yeltz made it three goals in three minutes in a superb 54th minute break with Simon Hollis playing the ball out to Ashby and SPENCER raced into the area to convert the cross from close range.

In continuing waves of attacks, King blocked a Spencer shot in the 55th minute and Lewis Baker headed Asa Charlton's corner onto the roof of the net four minutes later. BAKER increased the misery of ex-Chippenham manager Tommy Saunders in his first game in charge of Swindon by rifling home a sixth home goal in the 63rd minute when unmarked in the penalty area.

Spencer's shot was turned around the post in the 65th minute but the game finally calmed down after a series of late substitutions. King gathered a 20-yard drive from Hollis in the 74th minute and in the final minute Sheils tipped a cross-shot from Futcher over the bar. Seconds later Ashby almost added a seventh goal but headed Steane's cross wide in front of goal, although enough had already been done to erase the painful memory of the four-goal defeat at Swindon earlier in the season.