Leighton went into this game looking to avenge their defeat in the 1st game of the season and made some changes to the team that beat victoria rangers the previous week. With greenall going awol Piedot was asked to fill the right back slot, Wingrave was given his 1st start up front after scoring on his debut last week with Ashton coming into central midfield and mattacks moving to the right, the shock decision however was Ottaway being thrown straight into the side wide left with two of last weeks top performers Edwards and Georgiou on the bench.
For the 1st time this season town started the brighter and immedietly settled into their passing game playing some good football from back to front with plenty of joy being had down the right with mattacks skinning their left back on a regular basis and even hit the bar with a speculative shot after 10 minutes. Caddington were always a danger on the break playing 4-5-1 against towns 4-4-2 meaning wingrave having to drop deep tp help out the midfield of marshall and neale and cover the spare man. midway through the first half leighton were well on top but failing to make the pressure count, one of the best chances coming on 35mins with some good play by winslow as he rounded the keeper with the ball breaking to neale only to see it cleared off the line. wingrave then found himself in an excellent position from 5 yards only to misjudge it and miss the chance. just before the half time whistle it was left to chequers keeper to pull of an excellent stop after some good work by childs up front beating the defender to the ball with a lob shot only to see the keeper push it wide.
Second half town made two subsitutes, wingrave making way for georgiou up front and edwards replacing neale in midfield. the second half started like the first with leighton on top with the opening two chances falling to georgiou who placed both at the goalkeeper. Caddington started to come into the game more second half as there central midfielder basically having a free role since wingrave departed and started to dictate play. However Town then brokle down the right and mattacks run into the area and was fouled by chequers defender with piedot dispatching the resulting penalty to the left of the keeper. With town now under the cosh and being completely overrun in midfield it took some excellent defending from the impressive central partnership of Oxley and Mike Migliori to keep them at bay. Moments later however the ball broke for georgiou who clean through on gaol could only place it into the goalkeepers hands. Caddington were now on top and as the ball broke on the edge of the town box a well drilled strike was seemingly goalbound only for keeper sibley to expertly tip it round the post. Moments later though in the town box Marshall clipped their strikers ankles and chequers were awarded a penalty, however Sibley managed to save with his legs and keep the score at 1-0.
Coming into the final 15 minutes town were under pressure but always looked dangerous on the break with the pace of mattacks down the right. Dave threw the ball to his brother mike and a mis control nearly gifted them the equaliser but chequers striker smashed his effort against the bar. However it was only going to be a matter of time with town being constantly overrrun, despite the best efforts of the defence and keeper in particular the impressive oxley chequers equalised late on when from a corner the ball broke to the edge of the box to their unmarked player who drilled it home through the crowd. There was still time for one more chance however as ottaway cut inside from the left and was fouled in the box, with minutes to go Piedot had a chance to win the game but saw his spot kick saved by their keeper to the right to make sure his team kept a point. with seven points from the first four games Town will be looking to kick on from here and push for promotion to Div2.
