Stitch2Print Devon & Exeter League division one: Chard Town Reserves 1, Wellington Reserves 1
It was honours even as our Reserves made the short trip to Chard Town and their notoriously sloping, challenging pitch.
Winning the coin toss, we played uphill for the first half and acquitted ourselves well with a 4-5-1 formation.
Strong headers by the central defensive pairing of Tom Davies and Jamie Fleet quelled the long searching balls, with the Tangerines then building some good passages of play with lone striker Jordan Sellick holding the ball up for players to join in.
On 18 minutes, a deep corner to the far post caught the visitors flat footed and the Chard player finished with a neat volley inside the post.
A repost was sought, and another piece of good football by central midfielder Amauri Ruiz found Rohan Poulsom to show good strength and feet to turn inside and find the net. However, the home linesman had his flag raised and, after consultation with the referee, the initial award was frustratingly rescinded.
With the slope now in our favour, we switched to a 3-5-2 formation which proved fruitful as we dominated possession playing some more calculated passing football.
Sellick saw an effort thwarted by the bar as the Tangerines probed for the equaliser which came midway into the half with Sellick finishing with a turn and shot to set up a grandstand finish.
The only ingredient missing was the final ball to the strikers and, when we eventually got behind the home defence, the keeper made some solid stops.
A flurry of corners found the oncoming Connor Noble who almost gave us our reward on three occasions.
Team: Jake Nichols, Dylan Groves, Mark Owen (capt) Tom Davies, Jamie Fleet, Clay Westcott, Connor Noble, Amauri Ruiz, Wes Poulsom, Rohan Poulsom, Jordan Sellick. Subs: Logan Sellick (for Groves); Lloyd Manning and Adam Watson (not used).
Next up is a trip to Bow Athletic on Saturday with a 3pm kick-off.
