Blues draw again

REPORT BY RICK LANE

Both teams were left to rue late missed chances as Newark Town and Appleby Frodingham played out a hard-fought 1-1 draw in the Central Midlands League North, Town's third in their last four matches.  There was a welcome return to the starting line up for Julian Joachim, making his first appearance since November following a hip injury. 
The Blues demonstrated some flowing attacking football in the first-half, and Reece Carlisle carved the game's opening chance when he found space on the left and crossed to Jordan Thomas who could only direct his effort wide of the post. Most of Newark's attacking threat came from the left, with Swingler the next player to find himself in space.  His cross from the left was blasted towards goal by Jammy Lloyd, but his strike hit Thomas en-route to the goal and Appleby eventually cleared. 
Their opponents grew more into the match, with a header wide of the post and a dangerous ball into the area by Callum Cutillo causing Newark some problems.  Joachim was given a golden opportunity to score after the referee played a good advantage when  Thomas was cynically fouled.  He ran through on goal, but saw his shot well saved by the keeper. That was Joachim's last major involvement in the match as he sustained a calf injury minutes later and was replaced by Tyler Martin.  This seemed to disrupt the flow of Newark's play, and Appleby were nearly gifted an opener when goalkeeper Nathan Burrows kicked the ball into Scott Neary's back. He was grateful to hold the ball as it rebounded into his path. Appleby took the lead six minutes into the second-half, as the defence was undone by a long ball over the top from Stephen McCarron, Neary controlling the ball and hitting his shot hard and low, giving Burrows no chance. Martin levelled the scores in the 62nd minute, latching on to a through ball and striking first time across the goalkeeper and into the corner.  Newark pressed for a second, with Carlisle's shot flying wide of the post while Thomas saw his volley saved low by the keeper. 
The main drama came in the last few minutes of the game, with Appleby first having the opportunity to seal the points when Cutillo running through on goal and shooting low just wide of the post across the face of goal. At the other end, Thomas did well to pick up the loose ball and power through on goal, but he missed the target as he looked to place the ball into the corner. There was controversy right at the end of the match, when Swingler went down under a challenge from Cameron Dunn. But the referee waved away the appeals as the match finished level.