Hard fought draw at Paulton

We started the league campaign with a hard-fought draw at Winterfield Road , and although we had the better of the play throughout, we had to battle out the last 35 minutes with 10 men after skipper Mark Draycott (pictured) had been sent off, having found it difficult to create any goal scoring chances even when we were at full-strength.
We almost had a lucky break early on when a shot from Rhys Tyler bounced awkwardly and deceived Ben John, but the keeper reacted well to fingertip the ball over the bar for an unproductive corner. With a new manager and several new players, the home side defended stoutly, although they soon earned a couple of bookings. A free-kick from Matt Day went straight to John, who made a great save as he came out to block James Clark, who might have scored had he been able to flight the ball over the advancing keeper.
The first half was goalless, but we had a set-back 10 minutes after the restart when Draycott collided with the goalkeeper, claiming that he had been pushed by a defender. Whatever the facts, out came a red card after a melee involving a dozen players, a the skipper trudged slowly off. Even with 10 men ,we more than held our own, but that final ball often went stray as we tried to create an opening. Paul Strudley saved well and Diak John completed the clearance, but oddly, the home side were awarded a corner. Strudley was the bundled into the back of the net, and after consulting the linesman, captain Scott Brice was booked, There was another strange decision when Strudley caught the ball right on the edge of the area, opponents claiming that he was outside his area, but the keeper was booked and Paulton awarded a free-kick, which fortunately came to nothing.
Over 5 minutes of added time still failed to see a goal, and we had to be content with a point to start the season, perhaps a fair result on the day.
Team; Strudley, Tyler, John,Rusby, Day, Rees, Clark, Jones, Jarvis(Kelvin Bossman),Draycott, O’Brien(Brown). Subs;Goodger, Horgan, Stow. ,