THRILLER AT BALLYWOOLEY
Although they had to rely on a last minute equaliser, Bryansburn deserved a share of the points in an exciting 3-3 draw with visiting Shorts at Ballywooley. Ten minutes before the start, the skies opened and the rain continued all the way through the first half making underfoot conditions difficult.
Bryansburn took the lead after twelve minutes when Culbert beat the defence on a run in on a through ball and rounded the keeper who perhaps was a bit slow off his line in spotting the danger. With the match evenly balanced and some chances at either end there was no further scoring in the first half.
With the pitch now badly cut up following the first half rain, Shorts scored immediately after the break when Steventon let the muddy ball slip through his grasp for an easy tap in. To make matters worse for Bryansburn, anchor man at the back Magee limped off. Midway through the half, the Shorts Right-back showed a neat bit of footwork in rounding two Bryansburn defenders outside the edge of the box and fired the ball across goal. Whether a shot or a cross was intended, we will never know but the ball struck the inside of the opposite post and into the net. This was the signal for Bryansburn to up their game and with half an hour gone Coard played Culbert in through the channel and he did what he does best and fired in from a narrow angle.
Bryansburn now piled on the pressure in the search for a winner and in one almighty scramble in the Shorts goalmouth both Culbert and Keenan had two shots each with all four efforts scooped off the goal line. Then, Shorts broke away on their left and a simple lob into the goalmouth fell neatly on the head of an unmarked forward to put Shorts back in the lead. But Bryansburn were not to be denied and more goalmouth scrambles followed with Malomo-Paris somehow lofting the ball over the bar from close range before he got on the end of a Coard free-kick. In keeping with the late excitement he battered the post with his first effort before volleying in the rebound.
Although Bryansburn had enough chances to win, their frailties at the back, losing three soft goals did not help matters but since neither side deserved to lose all three points, a draw seemed the fairest result.
