Hungerford hold Chippenham

We had to battle hard to keep up our long undefeated run, coming back from a goal down at half-time to earn a point at Hardenhuish Park after the Bluebirds had the better of the first half, going in at the interval goal ahead , although their goal was a controversial one. However, none of the top sides could win and we go into the New Year in third place. We are only a point behind Chippenham with a game in hand but there are a number of clubs just behind us who have games in hand and the play-off positions are still wide open.
The home side came out of the blocks and did most of the early attacking, seemingly determined to avenge that 1-0 defeat at Bulpit Lane back in Septembe,r and did not allow us time to settle on the ball and build up any real momentum. The floodlights came on for a few moments but suddenly the bank on the far side went out, although the light was perfectly OK provided the problem could be solved by half-time.
In the meantime we faced another problem when Paul Strudley appeared to save on the goal-line and there were appeals from the Chippenham players and no immediate indication from the referee, who, after some delay awarded a goal on the basis that the Hungerford goalkeeper had pulled the ball back from behind the line, Alan Griffin being credited with the goal in the 25th. minute.
It was no more than the Bluebirds deserved, for we were still unable to get a grip of the game and half-time arrived with no further incident.
The floodlights were restored to full power during the interval and caused no further problem whilst, although we made no immediate substitutions, we produced a much better performance and more than held our own, although Matt Smith broke away on the right wing and fired a fierce shot across the face of the goal before the danger was cleared. Eventually Harry Goodger and Mike Jones came on and Goodger’ began to give the home side some problems., although it was Jones who got the vital goal after 75 minutes, lobbing the ball over the packed defence and under the bar. Chippenham did get the ball in the net near the end, but the linesman’s flag was already raised and the game ended in a stalemate, a good result for us and perhaps as much as either side deserved.
Team; Strudley, Horgan, Tyler, Boardman, Day, Rusby(Jones),Clark(Goodger), Herring, Jarvis, Draycott, Preen. Subs; Rees, Stow.