Town welcomed White Ensign to Love Lane on Saturday, for a league match, eager to get back on track following their cup exit the previous week and to gain revenge for their 2-1 defeat at the hands of Ensign a few weeks ago. From the previous week Town welcomed back Niki Love and Nicky Evans but Wiggy was working and Ben Polley was suspended for the second match in a row whilst serving a one match ban (no that’s not a mistake, just a quite ridiculous ruling) – Brez continues to be on his honeymoon and Lodgey went AWOL. So young Brad Merrick dropped to the bench, certainly not because he was any worse than anyone else last week, simply for tactical reasons.

Town were soon into their stride and put Ensign under pressure with Niki Love looking particularly threatening. Ensign are a young fit side and their pace on the break was a threat but the defensive trio of Jeater, Ready and Dave Martin were as solid as a rock and Chris Neal in goal, was not called upon. Niki Love then robbed a defender 40 yards out and set off, it looked like he was in on goal but was cruelly denied by a horrendous bobble which saw the ball bounce up round his knees which enabled the defender to get back and clear the danger. The firm uneven surface was to prove to be a problem for both sides throughout the game and made life very difficult. A few minutes later Niki blazed a dipping volley just over the bar. Town forced numerous corners but wasted most of them by planting the ball far to close to their keeper providing him with some nice easy catching practice. Half time arrived goalless.

Town kicked off the second half and were soon back in the groove putting Ensign under a bit of pressure without really creating any clear cut chances. After 13 minutes Town went ahead; Niki Love left a couple of defenders for dead down the right wing, looked up and pulled the ball back for Nicky Evans who, having run 40 yards to arrive in the box, steadied himself before passing the ball into the net for a fine finish – 1-0. A few minutes later Niki Love, who was now rampant, ran past some more defenders for fun and was hauled down for a penalty by the keeper who, as last man, was shown a straight red card. After an inordinately long delay lasting several minutes whilst Ensign put on their replacement keeper and made a substitution Niki Love stepped up to the spot. To add to the delays the ref then decided that the ball wasn’t on the spot and Niki had to move it which just built up the tension a bit more. Unfortunately, after waiting around for so long, his spot kick was too close to the keeper who saved it. Still Town were on top but then, against the run of play, Ensign equalised not with a shot but from a mishit cross from fully 50 yards – An Ensign player out on the left wing, just inside Towns half attempted a long cross field pass and/or cross which was straight at keeper Chris Neal – unfortunately Chris then had one of those moments and unbelievably the ball squirmed out of his grasp and into the net for the softest of goals – reports that Chris tried to throw his head into his hands but missed are exaggerated. These things happen and if a keeper makes a mistake it’s normally a goal so as a team we take it on the chin and move on and Chris was man enough to accept responsibility and apologise to everyone after the game. For the remaining 20 minutes Town threw everything at Ensign to try to force the win and came closest to winning it when Andy Allen, who had another outstanding game, followed up a rebound but his header went agonisingly and inch or two wide. Ensign, despite being down to 10 men, still managed the odd counter attack but Towns defence stood firm. The final whistle went to bring a very frustrating game to an end.

Summary: definitely 2 points dropped as on the day Town had dominated the game, especially the second half , so much so that Ensign didn’t have a shot (one that was meant) on target in the entire game. On a positive note Town did play some decent football, more so in the second half, but as we know you don’t always get what you deserve.

Player of the match: Niki Love – quite superb, a class act and a major threat all game.

El Coil