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Photos: Tom Wooldridge
A thundering strike from James skipper Josh Spurling won his team a deserved point against Vanburgh. Phil Taylor scored in the first half to put his team in the lead, before Spurling levelled early in the second. The game could have gone either way, but in the end both teams were satisfied with a share of the spoils. The game was generally quite a scrappy affair, with the boggy conditions on 22 Acres making free-flowing football an impossibility. There were few clear-cut chances, but both sides did have sufficient opportunities to have added to their one goal apiece.
The draw means both sides remain undefeated and both are still in contention to win the league this term, with both having leaders Derwent still to play.James almost took the lead after 4 minutes through Freddie Ferrao, but for an excellent last-ditch block from Matt Graham. Despite this, Vanbrugh had the majority of the play in the first half, and it was Taylor and strike partner Elliot Ross who were causing the James back line most trouble.
Ross had an early shot saved well by Luke Bradley in the James goal after a jinking run. Halfway through the first period, clever interplay between the pair gave Taylor two bites at the cherry; the first was blocked, the second collected by Bradley.
Eventually the pressure paid off. After a half-hearted penalty shout, the ball fell for Ross, whose shot was blocked. But the rebound fell to Taylor, loitering at the back post, who made no mistake. Vanbrugh went to half time looking confident carrying their 1-0 lead. A pivotal moment came early in the second half. A misplaced kick from Bradley let Kieron O’Dwyer through on goal, but the Vanbrugh man flashed his one-on-one shot wide of the post. Four minutes later, James were level.
A short period of pressure from the men in black looked to come to no avail as the ball bounced to the edge of the area. But Spurling’s sweetly struck half-volley from 20 yards left Vanbrugh ‘keeper James Wilson stranded, and the scores were level.
James now embarked on their best period of the game. Wilson made two good saves from a corner with 10 minutes to go, the first from a powerful header by Matija Pisk and the second a dramatic diving stop from Ferrao.
As the game drew to a close, however, it was Vanbrugh who came closest to snatching the win. Again Taylor was at the centre of play; his shot from distance was deflected just wide, and from the resulting corner his header beat the ‘keeper, but whistled agonisingly wide of the post.
Both captains were content at full-time. Spurling commended the performance of his team which was missing nine regulars. Meanwhile, Vanbrugh skipper Johnny Grout admitted that, despite their early dominance, the final result was probably a fair one.