Burbage left frustrated as they fail to claim all the points at bottom side

NKF Burbage picked up an away point in tricky conditions on Saturday when they travelled to bottom of the league, Littleton.

The Ton Boys had not picked up a point so far this season but were buoyed by a new management and some new faces in their starting 11.

The conditions were the worst of the season so far, extremely cold, very wet and dark.

The side was without Smith, Bradshaw, Storer and Captain Astill but the starting 11 was still a strong side. The game started in scrappy fashion and to be honest never really recovered. Littleton did not look like a team scrapping for their first points of the season as they started well and were certainly equal to Burbage in the opening exchanges, in and around the penalty area they were looking to get their shots off and Hill was call into action on numerous occasions in the opening half hour.

Burbage had two big shouts for penalties in the first 25 minutes.

Cheshire was first to have his claim turned down by the referee as he burst into the area two Littleton players dived in to stop him, arguably one took the ball but the second player only seemed to take Cheshire but nothing given.

Minutes later Burbage were again appealing this time for handball but neither the referee nor assistant were interested.

With around 30 minutes played Orton was brought down as he ran into the box from the right hand side, the referee this time had no hesitation in giving the penalty.

Orton stepped up only to see the keeper push his effort on to the bar.

Unfortunately for the keeper the ball cannoned off the bar, onto his head and into the back of the net to give Burbage a lead they would take into the break. As the half came to a close Burt ran onto a ball beating the oncoming keeper to it, but his effort ran wide of the far post.

The second half in all honesty followed a similar pattern with Burbage having the better possession and putting pressure on Littleton but without really hurting them. Hill was again called into action making some crucial stops to keep Burbage in front.

Burbage needed a second if they were to stand any chance of winning the match it seemed and they got it through Cheshire who rounded the goalkeeper and tapped the ball into the net to cap a good all round performance for the on day captain.

Within two minutes a terrible passage of defending saw Littleton get themselves back in the game and with 18 minutes to play they sensed they could get something from the match. They had their keeper to thank on two occasions however as he saved two efforts that were both destined for his top left hand corner, firstly from a Jake Gardner free kick and then from a Jake Brown effort.

Littleton were not to be denied though and as a ball was put into the Burbage penalty area, cue chaos. The ball pinged around like a pinball machine but it finally fell to a Littleton player who smashed it home in the 92nd minute to make it 2-2 and that is how it finished.

Littleton on their part were deserving of the point whilst Burbage would leave feeling frustrated that they didn’t really do enough in the game to completely kill it off and that they let a 2-0 lead slip which is uncharacteristic of this team.

Burbage now have two big matches in a matter on days, firstly they have an away halloween show down with Atherstone Town on Wednesday 31st October before travelling to Stourport Swifts on Saturday to take on the MFL Premier Division side in the second round of the FA Vase.