Pershore 2, Oswestry 2.

PERSHORE hosted Oswestry in this E-NERG league game hoping to fortify their position towards the top of the table.

The hosts began dominating the possession but the visiting side looked more dangerous in attack.

Making his debut for Pershore, Phil Tisdall looked assured in defence and George Darling at right-back was running tirelessly.

Pershore opened the scoring through Ed Deacon, who pressed high up the pitch, and made an interception before firing low into the goal.

The game continued to ebb and flow with chances coming to both sides, with Pershore probably having the best efforts.

Despite this, the first-half finished with the home side a goal up.

The second-half was a more open affair with Pershore soaking up much pressure and then hitting the visiting side on the counter attack.

The hosts’ second goal came from a poor short corner routine.

The ball eventually ended up with Steve Ridsdale just outside of the ‘D’ who topped the ball into the area which luckily found the stick of Gareth Rushton, who dragged the ball into the roof of the net giving the keeper no chance.

Going two goals down seemed only inspire the visiting team.

Their first goal came after a number of defensive errors saw the ball edge across the line from a mis-hit shot that left the Pershore keeper wrong-footed.

Pershore did have the ball in the net shortly after via Deacon. However, this was ruled out by the umpires.

The equaliser came with 10 minutes to go. Again, defensive errors gifted Oswestry the ball before allowing them to win a short corner, which the home side were unable to keep out.

Pershore were the stronger side for the last few minutes but Oswestry were able to repel them.

n With the club having a large number of players unavailable, Pershore seconds suffered a humiliating 7-1 defeat to high-flying Stafford. Fielding an inexperienced side, Pershore faced an uphill battle, as they conceded three goals in the opening 10 minutes. Undeterred by this onslaught, they battled hard and even forced a couple of good saves from the Stafford keeper on the counter-attack. They were unfortunate to concede another goal from a well-taken short corner routine on the stroke of half- time.

Stafford scored three more goals in the game, although Ali Sanderson fired home a late effort for Pershore.