Curfews frustrated by in-form North Greenford keeper

Top-of-the-table North Greenford will have gained the more satisfaction in sharing points at Alwyns Lane, not only as it continues to keep Chertsey at arms length but also that they should have been dead and buried by half time in Saturday's pivotal Combined Counties League encounter.

Chertsey’s largest league gate of the season of 175 saw the home side dominate the first half but stutter enough in the second to allow one of their two prime rivals to get back into a highly competitive encounter.

The line-up showed only one change from the epic match at Whitley Bay, as Dave Tarpey was unavailable.

Tommy Moorhouse came in, but not as a direct replacement as position changes had to be made.

There was still no slot for out-of-form John Pomroy.

He came off the bench midway through the second half to replace the hard-working Steve Goddard but still struggled to make an impression.

If anyone on the North Greenford bench should direct their praises, it would be towards the goalkeeper Gary Jallow, for he made a string of important saves for his in the opening 45 minutes and laid a foundation for his team-mates’ comeback later on.

Chertsey’s Kwabena Agyei (twice), Steve Goddard and Gavin Bamford all delivered highly creditable goal-bound efforts in the opening 25 minutes but were all thwarted by the alert Jallow.

The visitors rarely endangered the Chertsey penalty area during this period, except when a double dummy put the league’s current top scorer Dave Lawrence through, but this time it was Liam Stone who was equal to the shot.

But Chertsey’s ambitions continued unabated and the breakthrough came on 28 minutes.

On the left, Bamford threaded the ball out to full back Ollie Treacher, who advanced then sent over a diagonal cross to the penalty spot.

Stooping low, Agyei got his head to the ball and looped it over Jallow to exploit just about the only way of by-passing the goalkeeper’s hitherto uncanny positioning, giving Chertsey an undoubtedly deserving lead.

Town might have increased their advantage with Marcus Moody, this time joining in by participating on the North Greenford coconut shy, but once more Jallow turned the shot aside.

Chertsey showed less cohesion after the break. North Greenford maintained their workrate of the first half with the net effect that the ball was directed towards the Chertsey goal with more purpose than was the case in the other direction.

United’s cause was done no harm when Ryan Welch came off their bench and made a nuisance of himself on the right flank.

The potential menace of Lawrence turned into something more tangible with North Greenford’s greater possession.

A strike across the Chertsey goalmouth felt more like a warning shot across the bows but the signal was not heeded and, although Stone did as well as had his opposite number earlier on, he was not a miracle man and one Lawrence shot too many made the difference.

It came on 78 minutes from a central position. Stone stopped the well-aimed strike but could only parry the low shot and Welch ran in to thump in an equaliser that had been heralded for the past 20 minutes.

There was no lack of effort from Chertsey at that point but it all seemed misdirected with a lack of concentration being added to the mixture.

But the goal did seem to have the positive effect of jolting the side back into better efficiency.

Although play was still relatively open, neither side then looked capable of breaking the deadlock.

The Middlesex side were the happier of the two in this situation, to run out the time but the referee was having none of it and an extended period of stoppage time was played.

No goal incidents occurred in these last moments but the time was dominated by the dismissal, on his second yellow card, of Greenford’s Joe Sparrowhawk who had a wild outting after coming off the bench some 20 minutes earlier.

The lighter evenings may signal that the time is approaching when the league campaign starts to hot up but, with so many recent postponements during the past 10 weeks, there is still over a third of the schedule to come, plenty of time in Chertsey’s mind to play catch up on the so far, elusive league leader.

FIXTURES

Tuesday, February 23 – Bedfont (home), CCL Friday, February 26 – Colliers Wood United (at Cobham FC), CCL Saturday, March 6 – Badshot Lea (A), CCL