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Wallingford may consider themselves unlucky not to have come away from Abingdon with three points after they had the better chances to win a scrappy game on a bitterly cold night.
Joey Beauchamp, making his first appearance since returning to Town, shot into the Wallingford wall with an early free-kick. Ian Lovegrove then made a last ditch block to deny Tom Larman, as the home side had the better of the early exchanges. Wallingford took the lead against the run of play in a dire first half. Abdouli Taha crossed in from the right and debutant keeper Chris Flowers fumbled the ball straight into the path of Aaron Baker, who turned to fire low into the net. Wallingford had a couple of great chances to extend their lead just after half-time - Andrew Styles latched onto Ross Tyler's throughball and looked to be clean through, but a defender managed to drag him wide and he could not get a shot in. Lovegrove then curled in a peach of a cross and Simon Barlow arrived in the centre to head goalwards, but straight at Flowers, who made a good reaction save. Styles then dragged a shot wide after Flowers could only punch a cross as far as the edge of the area. Wallingford were made to rue these missed chances with 15 minutes remaining when Tom Larman controlled a ball over the top and lifted the ball over Wallingford 'keeper Ali Aken. The game became scrappy and bad tempered in the closing stages, and Wallingford were particularly aggreaved when Zinzee Taha appeared to put Aaron Baker clear on the left, but the referee pulled play back to see to the injuries of a Wallingford player.Baker did have his chance though 5 minutes later when he beat the offside trap and had only Flower to beat, but dragged his shot just wide. Wallingford captain Ross Tyler was sent off for his second bookable offence in the 90th minute and the game petered out to a draw. AFC Wallingford: Aken, Boeteng, Lovegrove, Barlow, Fenn, Ingram, Tyler, Styles, Baker, Leggett (Z.Taha), A.Taha. subs not used: Massaquoi, Touray. |
