Last game of 2013 sees the points shared

A third successive draw for United and a well-deserved point in a close match with few goalscoring opportunities for either side and much of the play confined to midfield and the wings.

Due to a water logged pitch the match was switched late Friday evening to Burnham FC’s ground and it was United who created the first chance in the third minute. Good play be Kevin DeBarros and Connor Richardson on the left say the ball played across the hosts’ penalty area where the unmarked Mo Davies drove a shot wide of the goal.

Ballers had two half chances in as many minutes when a shot was put over the cross bar following Woodley’s wall blocking a free kick and Tyler Hayles, after beating Kaser Chowdhary saw his shot blocked and cleared.

Sixteen minutes into the half, DeBarros saw his free kick spilled by keeper Fabio Suarez but cleared before United could capitalise on the error. A quick free kick allowed caught Woodley out but Killian Barrett was able to make a save using his feet while shortly afterwards Hayles saw another free kick blocked by Woodley’s wall.

After this initial activity the game settled into a pattern of midfield play and it was not until the forty first minute that the next attempt at goal was made which saw Ballers shoot wide of the visitors’ goal. This was followed by Mackenzie Creech having a shot blocked on the edge of the hosts’ penalty area and
Kushon Lewis-Thomas finishing the half with a mazy run only to shoot weakly and wide of Barrett’s goal.

The opening twenty minutes of the second half saw Woodley withstand continuous pressure with Ballers moving the ball quickly on the 3G surface, but apart from Hayles forcing a save from Barrett and Sangjoon Baek shooting wide, the visitors stood firm.

United introduced William Mabukwa after seventy minutes, whose pace began to cause Ballers’ problems and enabled Woodley to play higher up the pitch as the home team defended deeper. This is turn resulted in play becoming stretched with both teams looking to attack quickly via counter attacks and being caught off side. Creech shot wide shortly before the end of normal time as did Ballers Abdel Mouman Sahnoun but despite nine minutes added time either team could break the deadlock.

Barrett, Davies, Carmichael, Creech, Chowdhary, Hok, DeBarros (G Smith), Brandao, Johnson-McNally (Mabukwa), Manneh, Richardson Subs not used: Massaquoi, Bossman, Ojong