SAINTS’ 100% START IS FINISHED BY NELSON
BRACKLEY Town dropped their first points of the season as Michael Nelson’s Blyth Spartans kept up their impressive start.
Three of Brackley’s four narrow victories had been on the road, but the Saints unable to increase that to four.
Both sides had to settle for a stalemate in front of a four-figure crowd at Croft Park.
Brackley boss Kevin Wilkin wasn’t disappointed with the result: “I think it’s a fair result. We had one or two chances, but equally Blyth had one or two,” he said. “We’ve had a strong start to the season and a draw away from home sustains that.
“Nothing is won or lost in September, but we try to set a platform. We didn’t create as much as in previous games, but we got into good areas.”
JJ O’Donnell had the first chance as he spotted Danny Lewis off his line but the home skipper’s effort was too high.
Brackley were growing into the game and Twariq Yusuf’s 30-yard strike drew a smart save from Blyth back-up keeper Alex Curran.
Curran was in action again as a crucial hand prevented Ellis Myles’ cross from finding Shepherd Murombedzi. It was far from one-way traffic, however, as shots from Connor Thomson, Nicky Deverdics and Karl Byrne were all kept out in a scramble.
Smart play between Thomson and Dan Maguire led to Thomson being one on one but keeper Danny Lewis made a crucial save.
Blyth had the clearest chance so far when Thomson picked up the ball just inside the Brackley half before going on a jinking run.
The wide man fired goalwards only for Lewis to dive full-length to tip it round the post.
After two barren years Spartans are much improved and they felt hard done by after
Sean Reid appeared to have been dragged down inside the box from a Deverdics corner.
Reid was soon involved in his own penalty area as his goal line headed clearance prevented Lee Ndlovu from scoring.
Byrne thought he’d broken the deadlock when he beat the keeper inside the box only for an exceptional clearance from Glenn Walker to deny him.
Nelson felt his side had the chances to win: “Their goalkeeper was worked a lot more than ours,” he said. “We had great chances and they’ve cleared one off the line. On balance of play we deserved to win.”
Nelson wasn’t impressed with the decision not to award his side a penalty: “The referee saw a lot of things differently today. But we had the type of chances where we shouldn’t be relying on a penalty to win.”
(4-3-3): Curran 8, Byrne 6, Lees 6, Reid 7, Watson 6, Painter 6, Deverdics 7, O’Donnell 7, Thomson 8 (Liddle, 82), Maguire 6 (McNall 73 6), Dale 7 Subs not used: McKeown, Evans, Clark BRACKLEY: (4-3-1-2): Lewis 8, Myles 7, Dean 7, Lomas 6, York 6 (Franklin 86), Walker 8, Murombedzi 7, Armson 6, Yusuf 7 (Mitford 59 6), Lowe 6 (Rolt 90), Ndlovu 5 Subs not used: Prosser, Cullinane-Liburd
STAR MAN: Danny Lewis (Brackley Town)
ENTERTAINMENT: