After the previous encounter with East End Railway in the Minor Cup earlier in the season, manager Alan Wilkinson decided to rest the creative players within the team to prevent any unwanted injuries. That and the fact that Hall was injured and King & Alexander were absent meant a new team.

After a few previous substitute appearances, Pollard came in for his first start for the first team this season as did ex first team regular from previous seasons James 'Tart' Almond. With Corcoran being one of the rested players, Cavanagh was asked to attempt to play left midfield. A task made even more demanding because the extremely tardy Menton at left back had forgotten his contact lenses.

The game rather surprisingly turned out to be a somewhat placid affair. Both teams attempted to play football. End Railway lead 1-0 at half time when they scored following a poorly defended corner. On the balance of play they probably just deserved that lead. The closest Garnett came to scoring in the first half was when Williams' shot was cleared off the line. Mercer had one attempt that was about 50 yards off target!! Menton accommodated himself reasonably well without being able to see.

The second half was much the same as the first. Garnett went in search of the equalizer but few genuine chances were created until the dying moments. The only noteworthy difference from the first half was that it was now evident that Menton could not see! Oh my God, Mr Consistent had become Mr Dreadful. His touch had deserted him, his passes were ghastly and it appeared as though he couldn't even see the right winger run past him.

Garnett got the equaliser midway through the half that their tenacity deserved, and it came from the source Bohs are accustomed to. Sherwood swivelled and drilled a low shot from about 18 yards into the keeper's bottom right hand corner.

The game finished 1-1 but only after Garnett were denied a winner when Williams headed home Hindley's fine cross late on. However, the referee agreed with the home town linesman that the goal was offside. (Even the East End Railway manager said afterwards that it wasn't). Prior to that Pollard fired another excellent Hindley cross across the goal but Sherwood just couldn't stretch enough to apply the finishing touch.

In the changing room after the game Alan Ladd expressed his pleasure with the performance and result. With several regular 1st team players missing or unselected it was more than respectable to draw with a first division team 1-1 away from home. All of the non regular first team players gave a reasonable account of themselves. Pollard put in a decent shift on the right side of midfield and substitute Deeble did well when he came on in the second half. Best of all though was James 'Tart' Almond who gave a commanding performance in the centre of defence.

Team: F.Hepburn, M.Laws, M.Brown (M.Deeble), J.Almond, M.Menton, M.Pollard, N.Hindley, D.Mercer (MoM), S.Cavanagh, K.Williams, D.Sherwood 1

NB: The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the
views of the Gosforth Garnett Bohemian Football Club as a whole.