Late goal setback for Blues

In all honesty it was no more than they deserved as the two teams were evenly matched as illustrated by their positions in the table. Town included Ian Wade on the bench, returning to Station Road almost seven years after his last appearance in a Newark shirt, with Jordan Thomas leading the attack.
The early stages were evenly contested with no clear cut chances at either end, Arron Martin getting in a timely challenge to deny Pick, while at the other end keeper Whitehouse beat Thomas to a long through ball from George Pearce. Andy Smith was then on hand to again rob Pick as he lined up his shot. With Harworth pressing, Town suffered a setback when Stuart Rose limped off with an ankle injury, Wade taking his place with Arron Martin moving across. The first real threat on goal didn’t come until the 35th minute when Hardman beat two challenges to give Mundy an opportunity which was fired across the face of the goal. A minute from the interval Pick again went close, heading narrowly wide of the post.
Newark started the second half with far more purpose, Whitehouse making a good save to keep out a Jammy Lloyd shot, before the same player was nches away from connecting with a ball across the area from Thomas. Nathan Burrows was called into action to bravely smother the ball among a crowd of players and surpassed this with an instinctive block to keep out a shot from Pick who was no more than three yards out. The action switched to the other end as the Blues took a 65th minute lead. Thomas made a storming run forward before laying the ball off to Dom Swingler whose shot deceived Whitehouse who allowed the ball to go past him. Harworth fought back with Davis supplying sub Bradley whose drive across the area was cleared by Arron Martin. Tyler Martin then played the ball in to find Jammy Lloyd whose first shot was well blocked by the keeper, the follow up shot unfortunately finding his left foot and going wide. Thomas then had a header cleared off the line by Westerman. Burrows saved Town again by smothering a shot from Mundy, Newark’s defensive wall did its job as a Davis free kick was deflected behind but Harworth still threatened, Pick heading over. Burrows was again down among the bodies as the game entered stoppage time, but even he could do nothing to prevent the equaliser as Mundy stabbed the ball home through a crowded goal area, leaving the home supporters with the feeling it was two points dropped rather than one gained.