Beverley entertained Chalk Lane on the back of a positive performance against Bridlington Town the previous week. After two consecutive home fixtures, the pitch was extremely heavy. Town made a slight change with Danny Norton coming into the midfield after pushing for a starting place over the last few weeks.
Chalk Lane have had an indifferent season, but have picked up a little lately with two victories in a row. The Humber Premier League leaders were finding it heavy going early on, and it was the away team that started the brighter, and they took the lead in the 23rd minute with a crisp finish.
The home team equalised in the 32nd minute with Rob Northern converting from the penalty spot for his 12th goal of the season. Northern is having an excellent season in front of goal with 13 goals from 11 starts.
As the game ebbed and flowed from end to end, both teams were satisfied to come in at half-time with the game level.
Immediately, into the second half Chalk Lane retook the lead with a controversial goal, the linesman gave the goal offside, but he was over ruled by the match referee Sean Barber.
Hopefully, this would inspire the home team and manager Dave Ricardo made a change bringing Tyler Collishaw on for Ben Thomson giving Beverley more attacking impetus.
Unfortunately, within a minute of this Thomson’s central midfield partner Nathan White also had to be replaced after damaging his knee earlier on in the game.
This upset Beverley’s rhythm slightly, but they equalised in the 66th minutes after a cross from Luke Thompson was bundled home at the second attempt by Northern for his second goal.
The home team were now having plenty of possession, but against a very experienced back four, they struggled to create any real goal scoring opportunities with many attack and set piece opportunities lacking any real quality or direction.
In fact, it was the away team that nearly stole all three points, when a free kick 30yds out was driven towards the top corner; this produced an outstanding save from goalkeeper Adam Nicholson who tipped the ball wide off his left hand post.
It is difficult to judge whether in the end this was one point gained or two points dropped. Beverley have now slipped to second place on goal difference but have a game in hand.
But the impact of this is a vital game against third place North Cave, who have an outstanding goal difference scoring 70 goals in 21 games. Town know that they have already recorded two wins against Cave, but the need for three points is crucial to sustain the momentum towards the top off the league and take some impetus away from one of their main rivals.
Reported by Steve Mulligan
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