INJURY MARS CAGEY AFFAIR
CORBY TOWN 0 HALESOWEN T 0
THIS result helped neither team in their quest to move away from the relegation spots, although Halesowen Town will consider themselves unfortunate having twice rattled the crossbar in the second half.
But, in the end, the occasion was marred by a serious injury to Halesowen’s Louis Ezewele, who had to be stretchered off with a suspected broken leg on 20 minutes.
Ezewele crumpled under a seemingly innocuous challenge from Corby’s Ben Milnes before being carried off to sympathetic applause from the crowd of 413.
Up to that point, the visitors enjoyed the greater share of possession, although bottom club Corby created the better chances.
Tyler Blake chased a lost cause to the by-line and his cross found Jordon Crawford’s, who first-time strike flew inches over John Bateman’s crossbar.
In reply, a slip by Corby’s Jamie Tank let in Kaiman Anderson one-on-one with keeper Aidan Grant but the big stopper denied him with a brave dive at his feet.
Within minutes, both Danny Bragoli and Jordan Goddard had shots blocked by the hard-working Corby rearguard.
Buoyed by this, Gary Mills’ side started the brighter after the break with Stefan Moore’s effort blocked by the legs of Bateman.
Moore then tried his luck from a full 35 yards but the ball drifted wide with Bateman scrambling back, while Crawford saw a rather wild effort blaze high and wide into the car park.
Halesowen too, however, had their moments and went closest to breaking the deadlock with two efforts which cannoned off the woodwork.
First, Anderson’s looping shot bounced to safety off the top of Grant’s crossbar then, minutes later, Lee Chilton’s effort from a full 30 yards hit the same spot on the bar but again was cleared to safety.
On reflection, a draw was probably the fairest outcome, although home boss Mills was disappointed not to claim a vital three points as they look to climb off the bottom of the table.
“Both teams were lacking in confidence,” Mills admitted. “We did, though, create enough chances to have won the game. My lads’ work rate and endeavour warranted more than a point.
“However, we will take the positives from the game and move forward to Monday’s home game against Spennymoor Town.”