Published: Monday, 8th September, 2008 11:00
Rain washes out thrilling contest
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Football
TORRENTIAL rain brought an abrupt end to what had been a six goal thriller between Maidenhead United and Newport County for the supporters braving the elements at York Road on Friday night.
The Blue Square South fixture was switched to Friday evening but was abandoned after 56 minutes with the score poised at 3-3.
Although the pitch held up well in the first half, the precipitation grew over half time and the second half became something of a farce leaving referee Russell Coggins with little option but to abandon the game.
Ironically Coggins was the man in the middle when Maidenhead’s game was abandoned with three minutes left at Dorchester last March.
The action saw Maidenhead almost always in front in terms of goals scored but second best with regards to the balance of play.
This was reflected in the opening incident of the game when from a corner a Rob Duffy effort was cleared off the line by Narada Bernard.
A long ball forward found Dale Binns on the left wing and he sprinted clear of the defence to score with a powerful shot which crept inside the near post of debutant keeper Erwin Bak.
Despite this early blow Newport were on top for much of the first, and following a good save from Shane Gore to parry a Dave Collins free-kick in the 11th minute, the equaliser was not long in coming, Craig Hughes finished well with a shot from just inside the penalty area to score in the 14th minute.
With half time looming Maidenhead recaptured their lead with another move down the left which saw the ball moved inside to Ashley Nicholls who let fly from the edge of the box to score. The half time lead was preserved when Gore again saved well from a free-kick.
After the break with puddles now all over the surface, an element of comedy crept in with the conditions forcing errors. This led to three goals in five minutes.
Firstly Gore misjudged a clearance allowing Danny Rose to tap into an empty net, then an Ashley Vickers back pass got stuck giving Richard Pacquette the perfect chance to score.
Newport equalised for the third time when Paul Hall crept in at the far post to score from a corner.
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