Braintree 1-1 Eastleigh

BRAINTREE v EASTLEIGH

SATURDAY 28th NOVEMBER 2009

Blue Square South

IRON POWER TO A POINT

Report by Ray Murphy

Following on from their midweek defeat in the F A Trophy at Lewes, the preparation for the trip to Braintree Town was hindered by the late withdrawal of Tony Taggart with a back injury, though Brett Poate passed a fitness test to be available for the side.

Braintree had regulars Mark Peters and Colin Goodacre both suspended. Four previous trips to Braintree had seen the Spitfires unbeaten and Eastleigh held the lead for the majority of the second period before being pegged back.

The first chance of the afternoon fell for Eastleigh. On fourteen minutes Steve Arnold’s long kick was headed on by Jamie Brown allowing Shaun McAuley a chance but the winger shot wide. Braintree had a chance on twenty-six minutes when the diminutive Jon Keeling controlled a cross from Alex Rhodes but Keeling lacked composure with his finish and fired over.

Eastleigh started to gain more superiority as the half wore on. Duncan’s clearance on the half hour struck Jamie White but the ball rolled safely back to Braintree goalkeeper David Blackmore. Brett Poate’s corner on thirty-three minutes saw Steve Cook have an effort cleared off the line.

A minute later McAuley drilled a shot across the face of goal. This was immediately followed by McAuley sending a cross to the far post where Pete Adeniyi headed back across the face of goal but wide.

Braintree then came the closest to opening the scoring on thirty-six minutes when a Keeling header from a Rhodes cross hit the top of the bar. Play switched to the opposite end and on forty minutes White’s corner saw Adeniyi head over.

With a minute to go to the break Poate’s free kick was met with a back header by Tom Jordan which saw Blackmore tip the ball over the bar.

Two minutes into the second period and Eastleigh were ahead. Brown’s excellent header from a Poate free kick gave Blackmore no chance as the Spitfires opened the scoring.

Brown almost doubled the lead two minutes later but his shot was off target. White was tripped on the edge of the box on sixty-two minutes, White himself taking the free kick that brought a fine stop from Blackmore. Danny Smith fired a shot over the bar on sixty-eight minutes.

Eastleigh were unable to hold on to their lead though. On seventy-four minutes George Purcell thundered a free kick from the edge of the box that was blocked by Steve Cook but the ball only fell for substitute Mike Power to strike the ball past Jason Matthews for the equaliser.

Chances were then limited for both sides but a valiant attempt by the home side in the dying minutes of the game were not awarded with a winning goal. Eighty-five minutes Jacob Mingle’s header was blocked by Anthony Riviere, a minute later Power had a low shot saved by Matthews. The last chance of the game falling to Braintree in the eighty-seventh minute when Power fired a shot across the face of goal where there was no Braintree player to add the finishing touch.