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| Saturday 09 April 2005 East Court 2 Lingfield III 2 East Court maintained their Division 5 promotion challenge on Saturday with a hard-fought draw against local rivals Lingfield III. Court welcomed captain Simon Nickols back into their starting line-up having recovered from his ankle injury, but regular goalkeeper Paul Bishop missed the match with a thigh injury and was replaced by Martyn Bishop. It was the away side that started the brighter and they deservedly took the lead early on in the game. A hopeful cross from the right wing evaded everyone in the area but fell to the feet of a midfielder who crashed his thunderous effort into top left hand corner of the goal, giving Martyn Bishop no chance. East Court then woke up and took the game to Lingfield. Paul Brice volleyed over from the edge of the area and Billy Denyer tested the away goalkeeper from player-manager Daniel Medcalf's pass. However Lingfield scored their second goal on the stroke of half-time, against the run of play. A neat pass through the East Court back line was picked up by a Lingfield striker and he struck the ball left-footed through Martyn Bishop from the edge of the area. East Court began the second half well and started their comeback with Ross Kelly's 12th goal of the season. The Lingfield goalkeeper made another excellent stop following a scramble in the box, but Kelly made no mistake from close range when the ball came back out to him. Shortly afterwards, Lingfield thought they had scored their third goal of the afternoon but it was disallowed as the linesman flagged for offside. Denyer then had a good chance to equalise but his shot was saved by the Lingfield keeper Phil Meakin, who spread himself well. After continued pressure on the away team's defence, Court's equaliser finally came when Andrew Wright's excellent cross was turned goalwards by Kelly and Nick Clarkson Tooze, who had come on for Brice, buried the rebound. Lee Champion and Nickols were running central midfield by this stage, and Medcalf was using his pace to good effect, foraging forward at every available opportunity. Nick Palmer and Adam Shillibeer made some important interceptions at the back and Bishop safely caught of a couple of hopeful Lingfield crosses. Carl Buckler was then replaced by Ben Sunderland as the home team, who needed a victory to stay in the Division 5 title hunt, pressed for a winner. However, unlike in the previous league game against Chailey, it wasn?t to be, and Court must now concentrate on sealing promotion to Division 4 by winning their two remaining league games. Team: M.Bishop, A.Wright, C.Buckler (B.Sunderland), A.Shillibeer, D.Medcalf, N.Palmer, S.Nickols, B.Denyer, R.Kelly, P.Brice (N.Clarkson-Tooze), L.Champion. Unused Sub: P. Bishop |