Pickering Town fluff victory chance (From Gazette & Herald)

Pickering Town fluff victory chance

2:40pm Wednesday 29th August 2012 in Sport

MISSED chances and shocking defending cost Pickering Town the opportunity of taking all three points away from Armthorpe Welfare.

Manager Jimmy Reid and his men were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw in their Northern Counties East League premier division battle – and they relied on an 84th-minute equaliser from Tom Fenwick to grab a share of the spoils.

Reid will be hoping to shore up the gaps in his defence ahead of the Pikes’ trip to Billingham Town in the FA Vase on Saturday (3pm).

Reid said: “I was relieved to return home with a point from the game after giving Armthorpe two sloppy goals. We should have beaten them by five or six clear goals but in the end we showed courage and character to come back and get a point.”

Pickering dominated the first 20 minutes and Steve Baxter and Ged Dalton both had chances saved by Armthorpe goalkeeper William Biggs, while Liam Salt headed wide from a Chris Gowan cross.

The opening goal came four minutes later – but it was the home side who scored it. A right-wing cross was headed back across goal by Steve Garner and a hesitant Pikes defence failed to clear, allowing Joe Lumsden to nip in and net from close range.

As the half-hour approached, Lumsden then ran at the Pikes defence, beat two defenders, and found Richard Smith unmarked. He scored with the defence again all over the place and a stunned Pikes went into the break 2-0 down.

They came out after the interval looking for goals. Simon Sturdy shot over the crossbar from 12 yards three minutes after the break but, on 52 minutes, Pickering were back in the game when Liam Shepherd supplied a great left wing cross for Salt to score from six yards.

A Dean Craig corner after 72 minutes gave Baxter a good chance to equalise but his header went wide and, two minutes later, a Tom Reid cross found Baxter only for his header to hit the top of the crossbar.

The leveller arrived with six minutes remaining.Tom Reid crossed from the right wing, substitute Tom Fenwick received the ball, turned to beat a defender and scored with a left-foot shot from 14 yards into the top corner.

Armthorpe still had chances to nick the points in stoppage time. Chris Davies saw a 20-yard free-kick go just wide and Arran Reid was called on twice to save from Davies and Aaron Jones.

Pickering: A Reid, Craig, Gowan, Readman, Sturdy, Taylor (T Reid 56), Dalton (Fenwick 64), Shepherd, Baxter, Salt, Danby. Sub not used: McNaughton.

• The Pikes’ game on Bank Holiday Monday was cancelled as Staveley MW drew 3-3 at home in the FA Cup with Bamber Bridge and the replay was being staged last night (Tuesday). Should Reid’s men draw in Teesside at the weekend, their replay with Billingham will be held on Tuesday, September 4 (7.45pm).

If they win or lose, they will play their first home NCEL league game on that date against Parkgate.

Meanwhile, the young Pikes are at home on Monday (September 3) when they host Gateshead in the preliminary round of the FA Youth Cup (kick off 7pm).