11/3/00: Ryman League Division Three

Bracknell Town 2 Tring Town 2

Tring Town's resources were stretched to the limit on Saturday. Between them, the first and reserve teams had 15 players unavailable for various reasons. Given the depleted nature of the team fielded against the team 7th in the table at the start of play, a draw would have been seen as a good result, but in fact Tring had enough chances to have won this game comfortably.

Tring made the brighter start of the two sides, but they were caught out after five minutes. Tring thought they had a legitimate shout for handball when Neal Bartlett's fierce shot was blocked on the edge of the area, but instead Bracknell broke quickly. Dave Osgood's pass set up John Smith with a shooting chance, and Bracknell's top scorer blasted home past Tring's young reserve team keeper Dave Clark, who was making his first ever start for the senior side.

Fortunately for Tring, that was Smith's last contribution to the game, as he picked up an injury seconds after the restart. Tring soon began to get themselves back into the game. They should have equalised on 20 minutes when Antony Beamish won a header at a corner. Rob McKane tried to divert the ball into the net from a yard out, but put it just over the bar.

However, McKane made amends on 35 minutes when he ran on to Tony Oliver's pass and got in a first-time shot that the keeper would have expected to save, but the hand he got to it was not enough to stop the ball going over the line to present Tring with a deserved equaliser.

But Tring's problems increased when Marcus Davis went off injured, and they fell behind again five minutes before the break. Poor defending at a corner allowed a free header which Clark parried, but Micky Havermans followed up to net the rebound and give Bracknell a half-time lead that their play had scarcely merited.

Tring continued to play well in the second half, and spurned another great chance on 49 minutes. Mark Burfoot outpaced a defender chasing a through ball and had only the keeper to beat, but failed to pull the trigger at the right time, and the ball ran wide. A great ball from Steve Boad set up an even better chance three minutes later for Steve Groves. The opportunity was gaping for Groves to lift the ball over the advancing keeper, but instead he blasted it straight at the keeper's legs.

In a rare Bracknell attack, a header from Ben Edwards had to be cleared off the line on 58 minutes, but in general it was all Tring at this stage. More half chances came and went before Tring won a corner on 70 minutes. Bracknell failed to clear, and Boad, with his back to goal, set up Beamish, who rifled home through a sea of defenders legs for Tring's overdue equaliser.

For the last ten minutes the crowd were treated to a rare sight these days of Danny Johnson on a football field, and Tring's 45-year old assistant manager did not put a foot wrong as he ensured his side maintained their dominance to the end, although they could not find the winning goal.

Team: Clark, Gordon, Simpson, Bartlett, Beamish, Boad, Burfoot, Davis (L.Walsh), McKane, Oliver, Groves (Johnson).