Perhaps it is just my childish sense of humour that made me chuckle when our hosts blared out Cher's "If I could turn back time" over their tannoy system as we entered their 80's style venue (not that we have much to crow about on that front).
On to the important bit, having been comprehensively beaten by Harrowby seven days prior it was going to be massively important not to concede early on but pretty much from the first whistle we found ourselves under pressure. They are a lively side with two quick wingers, a livewire centre forward who runs the channels all day and stretches defences and experienced goalscorer Martin Wormall.
We were fairly organised in defence and kept it tight in the first half without offering much going forward, despite being tougher to break down this week Harrowby still had lots of chances and our goal lead a charmed life. Carl Knox made some good saves and Pat Diamond cleared one off the line so we made it through to half time 0-0.
Having discussed the importance of another solid ten minutes without conceding in the second half during the interval our resistance was broken within 90 seconds of the restart, Martin Wormall heading home from a long diagonal in to the box. Almost immediately the hosts broke down the left and Sam Webb smashed home a volley, 2-0 Harrowby and fears of a repeat of last week starting to appear. The difference this time was that we got back in the game quickly as Drew Mitten scored from a sharply taken short corner which caught Harrowby cold, 2-1. Harrowby started to look a bit nervy and their once confident swagger was reduced to carelessly giving the ball away and gaps appearing in their defence. With about 15 minutes to go Kyle Stimpson arrived in the box late to power a bullet header in to the net following good work from Mitten down the right, 2-2. We were in the ascendancy for the next 10 minutes or so as the hosts fell in to disarray but we just couldn't carve out that winning goal, then in injury time Martin Wormall headed home a left wing corner which was a real choker. To see how Harrowby's Management team celebrated by running on the pitch like they had just won the Champions League should give all concerned with the Robins great heart, they knew they were in a game and were lucky to walk away with the points, in fact two of their club officials came in the dressing room after and said we deserved something out of the game which was a nice touch.
All in all the boys who pulled the shirts on yesterday and battled their socks off deserve a lot of credit and it will get better.
Dan Kingston
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