PAULTON Rovers gained a fine 2-2 away draw against leaders Mangotsfield United in the Premier Division of the Western Counties Floodlit Youth Football League, despite being reduced to ten men for the last 30 minutes.

Mangotsfield started off in control of possession and were threatening Paulton with balls in behind, however struggling to create any clear cut chances. The Paulton defence stood firm and dealt with the pressure well.Paulton were unlucky not to take the lead in the 25th minute when Wach was played through only for the keeper to get to the ball first, rebounding the ball outside of the box to Mavridis who’s rushed attempt at an empty goal went narrowly wide

Five minutes later Paulton had another chance to take the lead as some nifty footwork from Stevens down the right created room for a shot which came back out off the post. Despite the chances for Paulton, Mangotsfield were still dominating possession and eventually they found the breakthrough.

An excellent diagonal ball played into the Mango’s left-winger was controlled exquisitely putting him through on goal where he slotted past the oncoming goalkeeper to make it 1-0 going into the break.

The second half began and Mangotsfield piled on the pressure and the visiting team struggled to get out of their own half. Minutes later the home side were rewarded as the striker found the net from close range after a lose ball dropped inside the box, 2-0.

On the 60 minute mark, out of the blue, Paulton’s midfielder Wroe was shown a red card for language used against an opponent. Strangely this seemed to fire Paulton into action and they started to get control back of the game.

Five minutes later Willis found himself through on goal slotting home to give the visitors some hope of a comeback despite being down to 10-men. A quadruple substitution gave Paulton some fresh legs and then a long period of pure desire, defending and teamwork from Paulton kept Mangotsfield from scoring another goal.

The home side created a number of long range chances going off target and a couple of excellent saves from Mears in the Paulton goal kept the score at 2-1

In added time and with just a minute to be played, Paulton won a corner. A last ditch effort to get something from the game, all 10 players including the GK went forward to try and get a goal. The cross was played long and headed back across by Abbott only to find Blunt who headed the ball superbly into the back of the net to bring the scores level! A dramatic ending to an exciting game of football!

Josh Hurst

Paulton Rovers FC

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