Bronte’s young emerging side may have been full of confidence going into today’s game following last weeks excellent win but they quickly learnt that it takes more than confidence to win even against the basement team. In fact Bronte were lucky in the end to come away with a point. Eastmoor started the strongest and proceeded to boss almost the entire game, only some poor finishing and excellent goalkeeping preventing them from taking all three points.
Within the first minutes the visitors let Bronte know they weren’t going to be push-over as their striker skipped past the Bronte defence and hit a cross-shot just wide. They piled on the pressure forcing successive corners as Dave Bainbridge was forced to push yet another threatening cross over his cross-bar. A swift move down the centre lead to another great chance but the Eastmoor striker drove his volley wide of the mark. Eastmoor continued to force the pace and Bronte barely succeeded in clearing yet another corner. Then some good work by the visitors’ right mid-field set up their striker to hit a terrific drive that brought the best out of Bainbridge as he pulled of a great save at full stretch low to his left. On 20mins Bronte finally put together their first meaningful attack when Dave Armstrong’s pass found Ross Chapman with space in the box but unfortunately he scuffed his shot and the keeper collected comfortably.
It was Bronte’s first corner of the game that broke the deadlock. James Bailey’s pin-point cross left Chapman with an unchallenged jump to head strongly into the net. Eastmoor must have wondered at the justice of the game at this point. Undaunted though they pushed forward again and Bainbridge was once more called on to punch clear a corner and again as a well placed cross was headed goal-wards he pulled off another great save. If there were point for corners then East moor would have been well ahead before the break as first a miscue by Simian Brown and then a blocked shot led to two moor before Eastmoor ran the ball out of play. When Bronte’s’ second corner of the match also saw Baileys cross find Chapman’s head Eastmoor might briefly have feared the worst but this time the ball just cleared the cross-bar.
At the other end of the field Baileys passing almost gifted Eastmoor the equaliser as his week back-pass caused hesitation in the Bronte defence and though two Eastmoor strikers were in position to capitalize on the mistake they fluffed their chance and Bronte cleared the danger. The home side did have chances to increase their lead as first a free kick from Dave Alderson caused problems that led to Bailey passing to Richard McCullock but his first time shot went wide. Then Chapman’s superb through-ball found Bailey in space but he too drove his shot wide and high.
Eastmoor started the second half as if there had been no break driving strongly at Bronte but the home defence, in particular Bainbridge, held out stoutly. Young Jonathan Smith, now on for his brother Chris, got into the game early and placed a decent pass to Armstrong who made another trademark run but saw his shot go wide. Eastmoor’s keeper was forced to make a hurried clearance that only reached Bailey and though he made the correct choice his lob back to goal cleared the cross-bar also. Another free-kick from Alderson was headed out for a corner but this time Bronte couldn’t make it count. Then a Free kick to Eastmoor is headed clear by Brown at the expense of a corner. The resulting game of “pin-ball” in and around Bronte’s box finally ended with a fierce shot through a crowd of players going just wide. Eastmoor attacked again with some excellent work by their mid-field resulting in Brown bringing down a player in the “D”. Another fine strike was somehow blocked by Alderson though how much he was aware of it I’m not sure as there were a few half-hearted appeals for hand-ball. Bainbridge confidently collected the resulting corner.
Chapman, who seemed to be winning the aerial battle in mid-field, won another header leading to good work by Gaz Ritson and Bailey set Armstrong up with a chance but his shot this time was blocked for a corner. Bailey couldn’t find the same accuracy he had in the first half and it was easily cleared by the Eastmoor defence. Next it was Eastmoor’s turn to win an important header before a strong run was finished with a fine chip that only just cleared the bar. Yet another corner to the visitors resulted in Bainbridge pushing a dangerous shot/cross over his bar. Bronte dealt well with this corner but only a minute later Bainbridge was forced to pull off another good save. Although the better chances were still falling to Eastmoor Bronte were at this stage seeing much more of the ball and threatening to add to their lead. So, as is the nature of the game, it wasn’t surprising then that Eastmoor finally got the break they deserved. More slick passing opened up Bronte’s defence and this time Bainbridge couldn’t do anything to keep out the excellent finish.
Brown won a strong header to create an opening for Bailey and Danny Makinson but neither could make the most of the opportunity. As the game now switched from end-to-end with both sides looking for the winner chances fell to both teams. Bainbridge once more made a solid save then substitute Farhan (“Faz”) Khan was just beaten to a through-ball by Eastmoor’s keeper. Eastmoor raced to the other end an d this time looked to have snatched the equaliser but Alderson had marshalled his defence well and the goal was ruled out for off-side. Eastmoor then get a free-kick as the ball struck Brown’s arm but Makinson headed clear. In the final minute of injury time Bronte forced a corner. It would have perhaps been a cruel stroke to a very game Eastmoor side if this had produced a winner for Bronte but Bailey’s normal high degree of accuracy had deserted him this half and his cross drifted harmlessly out of play for a goal-kick.
M.O.T.M. Dave Bainbridge R.M.P. Dave Bainbridge