Poole Borough Football Club

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Craig Shanley - a solid performance at the back.

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Scorers : Kieron Wall 16, Scott Smith 69.
Borough Man of The Match : Craig Shanley

After building a two goal lead, Borough had to settle for a draw against title challengers Portland United Reserves, after the visitors scored twice inside the last 20 minutes of an entertaining game to secure a deserved point.

Despite a strong gusting wind both sides created early chances and Alan Fooks had the ball in the net after 10 minutes but was flagged for offside. Kieron Wall opened the scoring for Borough on 16 minutes with a near post header from a cross drilled in from the right by Alex Gunn. Portland could have equalised immediately, but with only keeper Dan Burton to beat the visiting forward blazed his shot over the bar.

Borough created further chances and their defence with Henry Simpson making his home debut looked solid. Just before the interval Borough's Alan Fooks saw a shot hacked of the line by the Portland keeper.

HT : 1-0

Portland created an early second half chance as their forward broke through on the right but his shot past the advancing Burton was off target. Henry Simpson had to go off after only 3 minutes of the restart, which affected the balance of the home defence and Portland began to look dangerous on the break.

The majority of chances were still created by Borough and the visiting keeper made a good stop to deny Scott Smith and also pushed a 69th minute shot from Paul Getley past the post. However from the resulting corner the ball fell to Smith in the box who picked his spot through a packed defence to score.

Portland continued to press and pulled a goal back on 73 minutes when a shot was deflected over Burton’s head by a Borough defender and Lee Cornick arrived on the line to bundle the ball over. The game opened up and Gary Fooks shot just wide, while at the other end a Portland cross alluded a ruck of players in the box before being cleared to safety.

With 10 minutes to go Borough were again pushed back and after they were unable to successfully clear an attack, the ball was centred to Dave Holmes in front of goal who made no mistake with his shot. Both sides pushed forward looking for the winner and Portland thought a late shot had crossed the line after cannoning down from the crossbar but the referee waved away their appeals, leaving Borough to hold out for the draw.

Borough - Dan Burton, Jimmy Edwards, Craig Shanley, Kieron Wall, Henry Simpson (Andy Coles 48), Mark Reeks, Paul Getley, Alex Gunn, Scott Smith (Dan Herrington 76), Alan Fooks, Gary Fooks. Unused sub : Ben Aldous.