Shirehampton 1, Berrow 1 (From This is The West Country)

Shirehampton 1, Berrow 1

7:00am Wednesday 13th March 2013 in Sport

Somerset County League Premier

Shirehampton 1, Berrow 1

BERROW extended their unbeaten run to ten games with a hard-fought draw at Shirehampton on Saturday. But they got off to the worst possible start, conceding a scrappy goal after just three minutes.

This seemed to wake Berrow, who began to compete well with the physical home side and Jeff Read thought he had grabbed the equaliser only for a home defender to clear off the line.

Berrow equalised when Luke McErlain’s free kick was fumbled by the home keeper and Harry Penfold followed in to score.

Connor Watts nearly made it two on the stroke of half time but was denied by a good save.

The second half began well for Berrow as the game became stretched with Watts pace causing the hosts problems.

Phil Hartnup replaced Ellis Harper as Berrow attempted to get a firm grip on the game and his first contribution was a pass that found Watts who came close with a shot that just cleared the bar.

Luke Morgan replaced the hard-working Jack Radford as the game became a real end-to-end battle with both teams.

The home side began to pile men forward in search of a much-needed winner with the upright and goalkeeper Slack again coming to Berrow’s rescue.

Every Shirehampton attack brought about a Berrow counter until, with 10 minutes remaining, Steve Osgood replaced Ian Bellinger as Berrow looked to secure a good away point.

One further chance for the hosts went awry as the defence of Penfold, Pete John, Kyle McErlain and Scott Lismore once again held firm.

Berrow’s man of the match was Kyle McErlain.

Berrow: Slack, Lismore, K. McErlain, Penfold, John, Bellinger (Osgood), L. McErlain, Read, Radford (Morgan), Watts, Harper (Hartnup).