Late goal for Canaries

NORTHERN PREM

BARWELL grabbed a point in this tough match thanks to a 92nd minute equaliser, writes Murray Dworkin.

Having gone behind to a neat finish from Izak Reid, the visitors scored in stoppage time when a Joe Ballinger header beat the Stafford defence that had been keeping them out all match.

There was a nervy start from both sides with Barwell having the better of the early exchanges until a long clearance from home keeper Adam Whitehouse found new arrival Kyle Perry who hooked the ball goalwards only to be thwarted off the line by Ballinger.

Midway through the half, Perry was again on target with a volley that drew an excellent diving save from Max SmithVarnam made all the better as he had suffered an injury in a clash of heads just before.

Barwell had the ball in the net soon after but Blair Anderson’s cross was guided in by the hand of Declan Towers who received a yellow card.

Stafford took the lead on 35 minutes as Reid latched onto a long ball and beat the offside trap, finding himself one on one with Smith-Varnam. He guided the ball neatly past the keeper to give the home side the lead.

In stoppage time at the end of the half, Owen Story came into his own as he headed a Perry effort off the line.

Stafford began to assert themselves after the break with efforts from Jack Sherratt and George Bowerman failing to beat the away defence and with the newly formed Stafford front line unable to find the target.

It looked like Barwell were destined to be frustrated as their efforts to move forwards were met frequently with a solid defence until two minutes into injury time, a cross from the left from substitute Tyrell Shannon-Lewis found the head of Ballinger on the six yard line from where he powered the ball into the top corner of the net.

So Barwell came away with a point in a match that tested their resilience and showed that it really does pay to play to the final whistle.