Skegness Town happy with four point week

A midweek win at Sherwood Colliery was followed by a hard-fought 1-1 home draw with Sheffield FC on Saturday and Rawlinson said: “It was a good week for the club.

“We are reasonably happy with our start, though probably a point or two behind where we should be.

“But we are happy to be seventh and ready to kick on with hopefully another three points this Saturday.

“It was a difficult test against Blackstones on Wednesday night.

“We found ourselves 2-1 down at half-time after some breakaway goals.

"But with the players we have brought in recently we were able to have quite a strong bench, and all the guys who came on made a difference to win the game handsomely.

“To get a comeback win is always great for confidence, so we were really pleased with that one.

“Then on Saturday, Sheffield are a big club at our level without a shadow of a doubt and they were in the play-off final in the NCEL last year.

“They have had a bit of a slow start, but everyone is dropping points. But they have a lot of quality and strength in their side and will surely be in the play-offs at the end of the season.

“We were able to change the squad around again and we scored a good goal.

“Then Sheffield scored from a set play, but beyond that there were no other clear cut chances for either side in the game.

“We matched each other, we defended well and we were still a threat in the opposing half.

“So we were really pleased to get a point to make it a four point week.

“We are handily placed in the league and now go to Gresley on Saturday.

“We are good at home and know how to defend and get results.

“So this season is all about what we do away from home. And there are no tougher places to go than Gresley with the slope, and it's a long journey.”

“But we'll go there full of confidence and try to get the three points that would really propel us up the table with another home game the following Saturday.”

On Saturday, Sheffield FC started the brighter of the two sides, applying pressure during the opening eight minutes and making it difficult for Town to get out of their own half.

The visitors' number nine, Alex Hardwick, immediately looked like a player Town would need to keep an eye on.

He had an early sight of goal in the second minute and then tested Jake Sykes again two minutes later, although the Town goalkeeper dealt comfortably with the effort.

It was a significant appearance for Sykes, who was making his final appearance for Skegness Town before leaving to attend university.

Despite Sheffield's early pressure, it was Town who opened the scoring on their first real venture forward.

Declan Johnson seized upon a poor Sheffield pass and found Liam Adams on the right flank. Adams, who has quickly built a reputation for providing assists, delivered another excellent cross into the box, where Jordan Nuttell rose to head beyond the Sheffield goalkeeper and put Town 1–0 ahead.

Town almost doubled their advantage on 13 minutes when Bailey Forth met a corner with a header, but his effort drifted narrowly wide.

The game began to ebb and flow, but Sheffield were level just two minutes later.

A loose ball inside the Town box fell kindly for the lively Hardwick, who made no mistake with his finish to bring the visitors level at 1–1.

Neither side could find another breakthrough before the interval, and the teams went into half-time level.

The second half remained closely contested, although neither side was able to engineer a large number of clear-cut opportunities.

Sheffield had the first notable effort after the restart, with a long-range attempt sailing over the bar in the 52nd minute.

Town came close to regaining the lead seven minutes later.

A long ball reached Nuttell, who did well to head it out wide towards Lucas Dakin. Dakin pulled the ball back towards the edge of the box, where Nuttell met it with a shot, but he could not keep his effort down and it flew over the bar.

Hardwick continued to pose a threat and almost put Sheffield back in front on 68 minutes.

He seized upon an under-hit Skegness pass with Sykes off his goal line and attempted to lob the Town goalkeeper, but his effort was too high and landed harmlessly over the crossbar.

A minute later, McCauley Parker made his return to action, replacing Liam Adams.

Town then thought they had taken the lead on 74 minutes after forcing three corners in quick succession.

The third delivery was cleared by Sheffield, but the ball was quickly returned into the box and eventually found its way into the net. However, the effort was ruled out for offside.

Skegness made changes in a tense final period, but neither side could find the decisive breakthrough before the final whistle.