Nailsea travelled to Brislington hoping to reverse the home defeat by the Bristol based side earlier in the season.
United were quickly out of the blocks with the lively Matt Vickers sending two shots just wide of the post within the first 5 minutes. The play settled down and on 15 minutes a fine diving save to his right by Andy Fellows stopped the home side from taking the lead. This was not to be the only time that Nailsea would be indebted to their big keeper who had a fine match. After half an hour a fine move down the right saw Ben Cook overlap to send a powerful shot just wide.
As the half wore on the Nailsea midfield team of Matt Long and Russ Driver gradually took control and their dominance was rewarded 5 minutes before the break when Jim Lee used his strength to win the ball on the wing, pass to Kevin Cosham who whipped in a cross for Matt Vickers to score with a well placed header to give Nailsea a well deserved lead.
The second half started with Brislington looking much sharper. On 60 minutes the home team pressure saw them score the equaliser with a close range headed goal. It was now all hands to the pump for the Nailsea defence, with Andy Fellows making several outstanding saves to deny the Brislington taking the lead. Throughout the match keeper Fellows showed excellent positional sense and safe handling under difficult conditions.
Nailsea brought on Ben Thorne for Stuart Lee after 65 minutes followed by Chris Gale for Matt Vickers 10 minutes later. With ten minutes to go Sam Long made way for Max Richards as the Nailsea management sought a late winner. These changes nearly brought dividends when only good saves from the home team keeper kept out shots from Chris Gale and Jim Lee. A draw was perhaps a just result for both teams who put on an entertaining match in trying conditions.
The most pleasing factor for Addo and Spenny must be the way that the three young substitutes blended well with the rest of the team when called to do so and coped well with the harsher demands of Premier Division football. With youngsters Mike Wallington, Kevin Cosham, Sam Long and Mike Rowcliffe in tonight’s starting eleven the future looks bright.
