Nuneaton Town 0 AFC Telford Utd 0

Saturday 2nd April, 2016;

There was no point gained or two points dropped dilemma at the end of this 0-0 encounter at home to Telford for the Boro as with games ticking away – and having had the lion’s share of possession – this was definitely two points lost for Kevin Wilson and his Nuneaton team.

Back in November Nuneaton dominated the reverse fixture, they threatened to do so once again – but lacked the cutting edge that they showed in the 5-1 win earlier in the campaign.

They enjoyed all the possession in what was a one-sided 45 minutes, but failed to cut open the in-form visitors, as James Montgomery in Telford’s goal was a mere spectator for most of the half.
In-fact the only time the Telford keeper was called in to action was to deny Shane Byrne as the Boro skipper sent a fantastic free-kick goalwards from the edge of the box, but Montgomery did superbly well to tip it round the post.

That was the closest the Boro got to a goal, as despite having all of the play, Telford defended deep and denied Boro the chance to hurt them.

The second half was a different affair, though, as the visitors – on the back of a five match winning run – came out and began to ask questions of the home side. In the process they allowed a couple of gaps to open up at the other end.

One of them saw Vamara Sanogo produce a lovely step-over in the box, but his resulting shot was well saved by Montgomery.
Then, only moments later, James Clifton came close to breaking the deadlock.
He pushed on from his right back role, cut inside from the wing and sent a shot that flew past the post by inches – with the Telford stopper left static by the speed of the effort.

It was not all Nuneaton, though, as the visitors had chances of their own, the best of which fell to Isac Reid late on. The Telford substitute was left unmarked at the back post after a break, he somehow dragged his shot well wide, though, when he had the whole goal to aim for.

It would have been an unjust goal if it had gone in as the visitors played well defensively, but Nuneaton did more than enough to warrant a win – they just lacked the cutting edge to make it happen.

With games in hand on those fighting for the play-offs they will need to find that cutting edge or their season, like this game, could end in frustrating fashion.

NUNEATON TOWN: J.Smith, Clifton, C.Keane, Maguire, Rowe-Turner, Elliott, J.Keane, Byrne, Sanogo (Harewood 80), Whitehouse, Ironside (Duffy 74).
Subs not used: De La Paz, Scott, Warburton.

AFC TELFORD UTD: Montgomery, Samuels, Campion, Dawson, Grogan, Tilt, Wynter, Wilson, Hibbert (Cofie 82), McCarthy (Reid 65), Rea (Clancy 90).
Subs not used: Hutchinson, Brownhill.

Attendance: 754