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Saturday 12th October

Last kick equaliser is hard to take

When Old Tollingtonians arrived with no points from their opening four games, it felt like there would be only one outcome. But therein lies the issue with such an attitude, as a pumped up opposition went about their work diligently, pressing their hosts out of their normal passing game, the tight pitch after the larger ones got waterlogged, making it difficult to find the space. Old Tollingtonians also passed forwards quickly once they regained possession, creating an early chance that screwed wide, and winning lots of set pieces to apply pressure. The first big chance still fell to Old Parmiterians though, as Charlie Heath broke down the right and squared across goal for Adem Bekir. A flailing leg from a defender just deflected the ball beyond Bekir's foot with the goal gaping in front of him. A half low on quality looked like drawing to a close with parity intact when a late corner was won by the visitors. After being initially defended well by Chris Kane, Parms were slow to get out to for the second ball, with a Tollingtonians player volleying into the top corner from the edge of the area. A poor half called for drastic action, and there were three changes at the break for the hosts, as Nat Newman, Sami Bekir and Henry Williams all rising from the bench, with the latter accredited for changing the direction of the contest. The impact was instant, as Parms put together their best passing move, ending with Danny Isichei advanced down the right, whose ball inside found Mike Ramsay in the half space. Ramsay's turn on to his left foot and curling finish into the bottom corner was the perfect response within a minute of the restart. The hosts began to dominate possession and force Tollingtonians back, with Williams, Newman and Atiba Jackson strangling midfield to far better effect, and breaking far quicker to punish turn overs in possession. One such break saw Jackson send Heath in down the right, still with two defenders in attendance. Heath ripped past the first of them, surprising the second who must have thought he was in a decent covering position having forced the striker wide. Heath then beat the keeper to see his snap shot go in off the far post and turn the game shortly after the restart. This however, began a period where the hosts retreated into their shell again, and were luck to escape an equaliser when they thought a visiting striker was offside, with Steven Kennedy-Clarke getting down smartly to save the shot. Ramsay then suffered a freak injury, with a Tollingtonians player landing on his fingers and breaking two, forcing a change. The hosts then had the chance to wrap up the result, as Sami Bekir flicked the ball over his marker with masterful skill. He squared the ball with Adem Bekir and Nat Newman waiting in the middle, but the former did not make good contact and put the ball wide. Inevitably, the visitors equalised with the last kick of the game after the mayhem of a long throw, dropping their first points of the season.