Points shared with second place Easington Sports

Woodley Town were back in league action after back to back cup matches, welcoming Easington Sports to Scours Lane. Showing the squad's depth, manager Damien Marshall made several changes to last week's team; with Gary Smith missing, Carlton Cox captained the team and Jordan Goddard was deployed in an unfamiliar striking role.

The game had a quiet first fifteen minutes with Woodley just shading possession before the match sprung into life. A Sports striker went one on one with Dan Smith in the Town goal but he put his effort into the side netting. Moments later the home side had a lucky escape; trying to play out from the back, they were caught in possession and the resulting shot was saved smartly by Smith. The Town keeper was called into action once again saving with his legs following a powerful shot from outside the penalty area as Town struggled to get out of their half.

Woodley’s first chance came from Lemar Maycock. The pacey winger's shot from a very tight angle on the right was saved well and Easington cleared it for a corner. The following set piece resulted in a big goal mouth scramble with the visitors eventually clearing.

Just before the half hour Easington should have gone ahead from a corner that saw a free header from eight yards go over the bar. At the other end a Jason Awbery corner was cleared to the edge of the box and centre back Stuart Doe volleyed over while a chance fell to Goddard ten minutes before the break but it went wide in what was the last chance of the half.

The first opportunity after the break fell to Easington but was blasted over from twelve yards but they did go ahead after 57 minutes when a shot from Steve Howkins found the bottom left corner. Woodley levelled less than a minute later when Maycock was put in by a great pass from Goddard. The first shot was well blocked but the rebound fell kindly, and it was blasted into the roof of the net.

Grasping the initiative, a nice move by Town down the right was cleared for a corner and an Awbery in swinger was headed out at the near post before Dom Allen could nod in. On the hour mark a Goddard volley from distance missed high and wide to the left.

Town made their first changes after 67 minutes. Matt Molloy and Awbery were replaced by Craig Cox and Mikey Alleyne and four minutes later Town made their final change when Doug Groves came off for Sam Barham who went into centre midfield with Goddard moved to the wing and Maycock playing up front.

Another good move by Town saw a one-two between Goddard and Allen saw the former's shot only just miss the right. With thirteen minutes to go, a fantastic ball from the left by Goddard was cut out by the Easington keeper with Carlton Cox waiting to turn it in.

In the eighty first minute a free kick by Alleyne saw Carlton in on the right; his dangerous cross was slid out for a corner before Woodley were then presented with a great chance to go ahead. A ball into Allen was held up well by the tall striker, his pass into Maycock resulted in a miss kick but it fell to Carlton Cox whose powerful shot was fantastically saved.

With the game heading into a long period of stoppage time due to a Carlton Cox injury there was drama at both ends. First Town thought they should have had a penalty when Carlton Cox was bundled over in the box, then it looked like the visitors had snatched it when a free kick on the right went in off the far post. Luckily for Town the goal was ruled out for a foul on Smith.

Manager Damien Marshall thought Town had done enough in the second half to win the game and signalled Stuart Doe out for praise.

Smith, Gonzalez, Molloy (Craig Cox), Douglin, Doe, Awbery (Alleyne), Maycock, Carlton Cox, Goddard, Allen Groves (Barham) Sub not used Brown