Yet again, it was another match on home soil for the Reserves; their fourth on the bounce. The visitors this time were Eastwood & Kimberley, a team we faced on the opening day of the season in a five-goal thriller.

Some big characters were missing in Walsh and Sahota, which meant reinforcements were needed. After his brace in the previous game, Shadbolt started up top, Chambers moved into the middle of the park and Uprichard partnered Webster at the back. Hewitt-Wilson made his debut at left-back.

It was not the best of starts for the lads. A long throw into the box from the right wasn’t not dealt with. The defence didn’t get their head on the ballC allowed it to bounce in the box, and then with no communication between the lads, the E&K man hooked the ball over his shoulder into the back of the net within the opening few minutes. A really poor goal to concede.

It went from bad to worse, moments later. A long ball down the middle caught the defence napping. Yet again, the lads failed to win their header and a bouncing ball was expertly guided into the left-hand corner from the edge of the box. 2-0 down in the opening 5 minutes was not on the cards before the game.

After a period of 10 minutes, we managed to settle the game down. A short goal kick was played into Webster, who clipped a dodgy pass into Uprichard, struggled to deal with the pace on the ball and the oncoming striker stole the ball and was through on goal, slotting the ball comfortably past Clint in goal.

3-0 down in the opening 20 minutes, and struggling to find any real positives to build on. However, the lads did not let this get their heads down. Some nice play between Webster and Tovell on the right saw the latter play a chipped ball into the path of Shadbolt, how somehow managed to control it on the half turn whilst in the air, taking the E&K defender out of the game and slotting it with his left foot past the keeper into the near post. Could this be the start of a comeback?

Less than 10 minutes later, the deficit was halved. Astle did well to win the ball back from a throw-in, to nod it down to Shadbolt in the middle of the park. Shadbolt hit the ball on the bounce and played a lovely lofted pass into the path of Tovell, who composed himself and lashed a half-volley across the keeper. 3-2 and momentum starting to shift.

The HT team talk had now changed. What started off as a negative game, had now changed. Battles needed to be won all over the pitch and the lads had belief that they would get something out of this game.

The second half started well, with our tails up and wind in our sails. Chances came and went, but to no avail. Changes were made to give us some fresh legs on the pitch, as the E&K lads retreated further back the towards their own goal.

Midway through the second half, the ball fell to Moore on the left wing. The E&K defence had managed to keep him at bay for the majority of the game, but that was about to change. The bench had instructed him 5 minutes before to beat his man on the outside, and that’s exactly what he did. He isolated himself one-on-one with his man, faked inside to send him the wrong way, then cut back towards the byline to beat him on the outside. The near post was gaping and he prodded the ball home to get the deserved equaliser and make it 3-3.

Chances came towards the back end of the game, but E&K still looked a threat on the counter attack as Dynamos pushed on for the winner. Their best chance fell with 5 minutes to play, where the ball was cut across the box to the E&K attacker, the goal was gaping but a brilliant last ditch clearance off the goal line by Webster meant the points were shared at Cockshut Lane.

Disappointing not to take all 3 points today, but the lads showed great fight and determination to get back into the game after a disastrous opening 20 minutes.

We’re on the road next, with a trip up to Sleetmoor United.