Town made the short trip to Epping on Tuesday night missing 6 regular first teamers in Ready, Brez, Andy Allen, Wiggy, Dave Martin and Niki Love but they welcomed back Chris Headon and Flighty who returned to help out on the night and Lodgey, who abandoned the Bensons for the night and made a long overdue return to the starting line up after a long injury.

After a bright opening by both sides Town almost fell behind when an Epping player found himself some space in the box but Chris Neal made a smart save low down to his right. After just 15 minutes Nicky Evans, who had started the game in superb fashion, sustained an injury and he was replaced by Chris Headon. The remainder of the half was a midfield stalemate with neither side creating any clear cut chances. Half time 0-0.

After 7 minutes of the second half Town were awarded a penalty – Brad Mills played an exquisite through ball to Polley who brought it down and went round the keeper only to be hauled down for an obvious penalty. Unfortunately Polleys spot kick was too close to the keeper and was quite comfortably saved so the score remained 0-0. The game had a definite “end of season” with not a lot to play for feel about it and the reminder of other game passed without any major incident and it ended honours even with neither team able to force a result. Epping could have won it in the last couple of minutes but first of all Chris Neal made a superb save to deny them and then Brad Merrick, much to the amusement of everyone present, used his “gentleman’s area” to clear one off the line.

Summary: A decent game of football with both sides trying to get the ball down and play without either team looking particularly threatening on the day. Unfortunately for Town the missing and/or injured list deepens as Nicky Evans will now miss the rest of the season with a ligament problem as will Graham Jeater, who has been quite outstanding since his move to sweeper, who is away on his hollibobs

Player of the match: Lodgey – a very impressive return after such a long lay off.

El Col