Ashton Prime 1-1 Paddock Wood Reserves

Despite heavy rain and snow earlier in the week, Bayham was surprisingly declared playable, so Prime finally got to face Paddock Wood at the third time of asking.

Prime were without several first-team regulars so Sturmey and Gilbert returned in defence, with Mazurkiewicz slotting in at Centre-Back.

Goulding started down the left-wing, with Webb called in to join Excell up-front. New signing Sander joined Lower on the bench.

The game started in a dis-jointed manner with both sides clearly struggling after missing several weeks due to the weather.

Prime in particular were struggling to get the ball down and play anything like the sort of football they were capable of, and this was playing into Wood's hands as they seized the initiative with their impressive central-midfielders controlling the play.

There were still very few clear-cut chances despite 'Wood having the better of the game, with Gilbert and Sturmey in particular looking very solid.

Prime's attempts to get into the game were being severely hampered by the ref who seemed intent on giving every decision to their opposition, much to the annoyance of Excell and Webb who were never awarded free-kicks when clattered by their Centre-Backs and constantly given offside when chasing a through-ball.

Wood took the lead on the half-hour mark when a deep corner was headed back into the danger zone and their midfielder scored with an acrobatic overhead volley, which gave Latter no chance.

This seemed to stir The Numbers into action and they should have equalised just before the break when Kneebone's quick throw put Excell clean through, but the striker shot wastefully over.

The excellent Sturmey twisted his ankle just before half-time, meaning that Sander made his debut in the second half as Goulding switched back to left-back.

Prime were now the dominant side, but again they were struggling to make any clear-cut chances.

Kneebone was coming more and more into the game and Webb and Excell, anonymous in the first half were having more of the ball.

Prime's back four, marshalled excellently by the returning Gilbert continued to restrict Wood to long-distance efforts which Latter fielded with ease.

But as time ticked on in the second half, Prime's frustration was growing as the raft of refereeing decisions kept coming Wood's way and Goldsmith totally lost it when he was adjudged to have fouled his much shorter opponent in jumping for a header. The skipper made no secret of his annoyance at the ridiulous decision and repeatedly questioned the ref's allegiance and qualifications!

Despite swimming against this strong tide, Prime kept battling away and Webb curled a free-kick just wide and Sander volleyed straight at the keeper when well placed.

Lower made his first appearance of the season replacing Barnham who had again performed well at full-back.

Prime seemed to be running out of time, but with just 3 minutes left, another of Goldsmith's long throws found Webb who somehow turned and got his shot away and the ball deflected in beyond the keeper's dive to salvage a deserved point.

Man of the Match: Gilbert - Marshalled the defence expertly.