St Neots Town F.C.
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It is a measure of St Neots improvement over the last few games that they came away disappointed rather than pleased with a 2 all draw at Corby. In reality, they probably should have won and were denied a clear penalty at the end of the match by a poor decision by the referee.

Injuries to Steve Lomas and Josh Sozzo saw Michael Hyem return after a holiday and a place in the starting line up for Jon Mitchell who signed from Desborough on Friday. The new striker had an immediate impact after 72 seconds of his debut when Liam Harrold flicked on a clearance from keeper Luke McShane and Mitchell scored with his first touch for the Club. Saints joy was short lived as a minute later they failed to clear a loose ball and Lee Garvie equalised with a left foot shot from the edge of the box. On the sloping and bouncy pitch both sides struggled to get control of the ball and Saints almost conceded again after nine minutes when a long ball over the top saw Michael Byrne lob wide. The visitors hit back five minutes later when Tony Scully fed Harrold on the right and his cross was headed just wide by Mitchell. Mitchell then released Harrold again but nobody was able to apply the finishing touch to his cross. Harrold also headed wide before Dominic Johnson's effort was comfortably saved by McShane. On the half hour mark, Robert Hughes shot across the goal following good work by Scully and Parys Okai. Disaster then struck for McShane, the hero at Boston a week earlier, when he slipped trying to make what should have been a routine clearance and Byrne rolled the ball into an empty net to give S & L the lead on thirty five minutes. This deflated Saints a little but they equalised on forty three minutes when an excellent pass by Mitchell released Scully and his accurate cross was flicked home by Robert Hughes for his first goal in St Neots colours. He then shot over from a corner on the stroke of half time.

Scully started the second half with a fine run that saw him shoot wide before another cross from him almost forced an own goal from an S & L defender. The home side battled hard but failed to create too much going forward. The home keeper dropped a Hughes free kick when under pressure from Jordan Gent and was grateful to see a defender clear Mitchell's shot off the line after fifty seven minutes. The striker then headed just over the bar from Andy Lodge's free kick eight minutes later. Saints continued to press but lost their way a little. Mitchell had another header saved with twelve minutes to go before home substitute Shaun Davies broke away dangerously down the right and fired his effort across the goal. The game then ended in controversy and some bad luck for Saints as, in injury time, Chris Johnson was clearly brought down in the penalty area. To the amazement of everybody, the referee gave a foul on the edge of the area. Richard Lavin was forced to make a brilliant save from Jon Docker's free kick by turning the ball past the post and, from the resultant corner, Mitchell hit the bar.

• Team: McShane, Hyem, Lodge, Marlow, Fuff, Gent, Scully, Hughes, Harrold, Mitchell, Okai
• Subs: Johnson (for Harrold), Docker (for Okai), Kenneford, Knight, Dwyer
• Man of Match: Hughes

Match date: Sat 12th September 2009