South Shields were denied their third consecutive win as Peterborough Sports came back from two goals down to earn a point at the 1st Cloud Arena. Coming into the game knowing a win could take them to within one place of the play-off places, the Mariners made one change, with Kyle Crossley returning to the starting eleven in the place of Ashton Mee.
In a game where both sides pressed high and wanted to keep the ball on the floor, it was the away side who made the early inroads, with Jonathan Bland shooting marginally wide of the left post from a strike from twenty yards.
However, the home side were the ones to take the lead when some good work by Coleby Shepherd and Mackenzie Heaney on the left-hand side freed up Lucas De Bolle. His neat one-two with Kyle Crossley on the edge of the area put him through on goal and he finished with aplomb on his left foot to give Shields the lead on fourteen minutes.
It was De Bolle’s first goal for the club and he is already endearing himself to supporters with some excellent displays, however, his afternoon ended abruptly after he opened the scoring, as he limped off with a tweaked thigh on sixteen minutes. The game changed after De Bolle’s exit as Shields struggled to string together the sort of passing moves we have been seeing from Elliott Dickman’s side in recent games with the absence of their creative spark.
Despite this, the home side were still having the better of the chances as Ashton Mee tested Peterborough keeper, Peter Crook, who got down low to his right to deny the substitute’s effort from eighteen yards after more good work from Shepherd out wide.
There was nothing Crook could do three minutes later, though, when Mee’s searching ball into the right channel was latched onto by the ever-willing Paul Blackett. The forward, with four goals in his last two games, turned provider this time as he fizzed one across goal to the unmarked Crossley who simply could not miss from two yards. The ball nestled into the net and gave in-form Shields a two-goal advantage on thirty-one minutes.
They say a two-goal lead is the most dangerous scoreline, though, and the visitors proved why with six minutes remaining in the half when Dan Jarvis found himself in space and tried his luck from twenty-five yards. A firm but relatively central strike was not troubling Myles Boney in the South Shields goal until a wicked deflection helped the ball on its way, fizzing into the bottom corner as Peterborough found a way back into the contest.
Shields then had the chance to regain their two-goal cushion as the clock ticked over to forty-five. Blackett, again, had room to manoeuvre on the right hand-side and his inviting low cross was met by the onrushing Mee who, unmarked, lifted the ball over from a yard out with the goal gaping. A let-off for Peterborough as Shields were left going into half-time wondering whether they would live to regret the missed chance that could have re-established their control of the game.
The first fifteen minutes of the second half offered few chances for both sides as Peterborough refused to over-commit and search for an equaliser too early, knowing the strengths of their opponents on the counter-attack, whilst Shields could not seem to get themselves into the contest, searching for their forwards with long passes from the back, rather than the short interchanges in midfield that had rewarded the home side in the first half.
A half-chance for Blackett, shooting wide from a tight angle inside the area, was as close as the Mariners came to extending their lead before an in swinging corner was not dealt with by the Shields defence and, after a small scramble in the six yard box in which both sides were appealing for handball, Borough striker, Michael Gyasi, was the quickest to react to the bouncing ball and the lively forward rifled the ball past Boney and into the corner for an equaliser that, on the balance of play since the second half, the away side had merited.
Knowing letting a two-goal lead slip would do great damage to their recent up-turn in form, Dickman rolled the dice, introducing forward, Anton Dudik, to the fray on seventy minutes and the Carlisle United loanee came within inches of restoring his team’s lead when a dipping strike from twenty-yards took a small deflection and looped onto the roof of the net with Crook beaten.
As the clock ticked into the eightieth minute and beyond, both sides were very much capable of finding a winner despite a lack of overall quality in their play. Whilst the away side were creating half-chances with some dangerous balls into the box, South Shields came the closest out of the two teams to finding the crucial goal in the eighty-ninth minute.
An in swinging free kick taken by Heaney was flicked goalwards by captain, Robert Briggs, at the near post. With the pace generated from the delivery, Briggs’ glancing header was perfect as it looked set to fly into the corner, however Crook somehow managed to acrobatically claw it away from the left upright and keep the scores level, when it looked like Shields had stolen it at the death.
The fourth official’s board signalled three minutes, sparking widespread groans from all corners of the 1st Cloud, as supporters were sensing a winner after a flurry of set-pieces. The referees whistle came just after four minutes of additional time after a very late Peterborough free kick was headed wide of the post and South Shields were forced to settle for a point that extends their unbeaten run to three matches, but pushed them further behind in the competitive play-off race.
Shields sit 11th and are now out of action for ten days with no game next Saturday due to the 2nd round of the FA Trophy taking place. They are back on the pitch on Tuesday 10th December against Rushall Olympic at the 1st Cloud Arena as they look to swiftly return to winning ways.
South Shields: Boney, Hughes (Taylor, 57), Morse, Broadbent, Shepherd, Briggs, Smith, Heaney, De Bolle (Mee, 16), Blackett, Crossley (Dudik, 71)
Unused Substitutes: Seymour, Bramwell
Goals: De Bolle (14’), Crossley (31’)
Peterborough Sports: Crook, Putman, Gash, Fryatt (Lomax, 79), McCann, Gallagher, Jarvis, Van Lier (Alban-Jones, 90+2), Bland, Felix (Booth, 79’), Gyasi
Unused Substitutes: Elsom, Winters
Goals: Jarvis (39’), Gyasi (66’)
Attendance: 1979
Image credit: Kev Wilson
(@KevWilson19)
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