Badgers held by Bucks
Buxton 0-0 Eastwood Town
ANTON Foster's return to his former club turned sour as he was sent off - but Eastwood held out to earn a valuable point.
With Russell Cooke fit again, Paul Cox confined the utility craftsman to the bench and went with Marine's starting line-up which meant Danny Holland again got the nod over leading scorer Ian Holmes.
From the first few moments of the game, Halifax-based referee Mr Powell, touted to me in midweek as being 'leader of the fast lane', filled me with foreboding.
His non-stop whistling was bad enough but his insistence on deciding on the direction of every throw-in was an ominous pointer to the restrictions he had so obviously imposed on his assistants.
The importance of this fixture - it seemed, if anything, to mean more to the hosts than the potential champions - made for a scrappy early period with the shrill whistle ensuring constant breaks.
Richard Dunning's free-kick forced Scott Hartley to a fine save but Holland was penalised for some obscure offence.
At the other end, Steve Ridley's cross was cleared by Shane Redmond but Mr Powell spotted an infringement by Foster and from the resultant free-kick Mark Hume headed clear.
To nobody's surprise, Foster was booked for dissent and, seconds later, the game's prime troublemaker, the home goalkeeper, got a yellow card for his latest piece of advice.
What looked a reasonable penalty claim, when Ridley appeared to handle, was ignored, and 'Birthday Boy' Lindon Meikle had real cause to complain when Tommy Agus and Gregg Anderson converged violently on him 15 yards out. Again no action from either of the two very adjacent match officials.
In contrast we were then treated to a well-rehearsed outburst of histrionics when Foster again unwisely addressed Mr Powell.
My understanding of the theatrical gestures was that Foster was on his final warning. The highly voluble Mr Hartley was clearly heard disagreeing with such latitude.
Meikle, who has so often made life difficult for Agus either at Guiseley or Buxton, left the defender for dead, gave the same treatment to Ridley and, as Anderson swooped, went for one of his 'curlers'. To all of our collective dismays, the ball bobbled cruelly and the shot was, literally, ten yards off target.
The first period ended with Eastwood on top and Holland ran on to Marc Smith's controlled header but shot just wide.
Andy Todd, who had been strangely quiet, ran strongly and fooled two defenders with a cross-box pass to Dunning but the busy midfielder's first time shot was too near Hartley who untidily but effectively blocked.
A tense and fairly even second-half turned in favour of the Bucks when Foster and Ridley clashed on the touchline and Mr Powell immediately, and correctly, awarded the home side a free-kick.
Enter 'Mr Mouth' as Hartley charged out of his goal with more advice and instead of red-carding the keeper, the referee called up an assistant and saddled him with his first decision of the day. Result - a second yellow and an early bath for Foster.
Despite their depleted force, Eastwood had had so many of the better late chances, particularly from their substitute strike force.
Matt Rhead went very close with a cross-shot scrambled away by Hartley and twice Holland was centimetres out.
In the dying seconds Holland was forced to his right and opted to float the ball towards Rhead's head allowing Grant back to head clear.
Had he opted for a simple low cross, who knows? The Badgers could have grabbed three points.
This was never going to be a classic but an experienced and mature referee would have helped and spared both sets of fans one of the most frustrating afternoons of an otherwise very enjoyable season.
For Eastwood's best performer I go for Simon Sturdy whose return to fitness is great news for the struggle ahead.
Eastwood Town
1 - Shane Redmond
2 - Chris Flynn
3 - Ben Chapman
4 - Richard Dunning
5 - Mark Hume
6 - Simon Sturdy
7 - Lindon Meikle (Russell Cooke 73)
8 - Anton Foster (C)
9 - Danny Holland (Ian Holmes 52)
10 - Marc Smith (Matt Rhead 73)
11 - Andy Todd
Subs not used: Alistair Asher, Ian Deakin (GK)
Attendance: 472
Referee: M Powell (Halifax)
Best Badger - Simon Sturdy
For the latest league table, click here.
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Weather for Eastwood
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: East
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Cloudy
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
