Bottesford Town missed their opportunity to maintain their position in the Division 1 league table dropping 2 points to Rossington Main. In what turned out to be almost a one-sided affair, the visitors were limited to the occasional break but achieving their main aim of salvaging a point from the game.
From the onset, Bottesford won a corner in the opening minute which was well defended. With Martin Pembleton being given a free range, he went close with an individual effort in the 7th minute, closely followed by Danny Boulton picking up a long ball and testing keeper Zack Levers with a ‘stinging’ shot. The same player should have done much better in the 15th minute when following good approach play, being faced with an open goal he missed the target.
In a rare Rossington attack, Adam Wisdom for once managed to get the better of Tom Johnson but he wasted his opportunity by placing the ball wide of the target. Bottesford responded with Pembleton finding Chris Mcdonald with a perfect pass but on this occasion the player could not find his feet bundling the ball straight to the keeper.
In the 29th minute, the home team were awarded a free-kick just outside the penalty area , the resultant strike was cleared for a corner following which the ball fell to Terry Barwick who on this occasion sent his effort wide of the target. Minutes later from a corner, a header from Johnson found Mcdonald but his volley finished wide of the mark!! Mcdonald was once again on hand within a minute when following good play involving Nathan Smith & Mike Thompson, a perfect cross was headed narrowly wide.
There next followed a couple of free-kick opportunities for the visitors but the Birch Park outfit comfortably dealt with the same, and on the 2nd occasion straight from the clearance a header from Mcdonald hit the crossbar and the rebound cleared off the line by a Rossington defender. Bottesford continued towards the half-time whistle applying pressure on the visitor’s goal with further attempts from Boulton and Mcdonald but the elusive goal was not forthcoming.
The start of the 2nd period saw a free-kick from Barwick go straight to the keeper followed by another strike from Mcdonald finding the keeper well placed. Boulton was then denied a goal when his effort hit the post and rebounding to safety. The next 10 minutes saw the introduction of Jake Quickenden and Craig Bridge into the game in an attempt to break the deadlock but it was the visitors who nearly snatched a surprise goal but Adam Wisdom was wide of the target.
With a level of frustration beginning to creep into Bottesfords game, determined play from Barwick came to nothing when his long range effort missed the target. Try as they may, the final ball was found to be wanting for the Birch Park outfit and in the final 10 minutes of play with the home side pushing hard for the winner with both Bridge and Pembleton getting their shots on goal, they were almost caught on the ‘hop’ when young Louis Brackenbury had to clear the ball off his own line for what would have been an injustice if the visitors had scored a winning goal.