Motormen off the mark with first point

Aug 26 2004 By Christopher Beesley, Ellesmere Port Pioneer

THE Motormen picked up their first Nationwide North point on Saturday, finishing the stronger of the two sides despite trailing for most of the match.

Manager Owen Brown said: 'We showed a lot of resilience to come back into the game and in the end we could have won it.

'Worksop are always a tough team to break down and we had to be patient. Darren Wright showed a few nice touches on his debut but Karl O'Donnell's pace gave us an extra dimension when he came on.'

The Nottinghamshire visitors produced the first half's best chances and home keeper Tim Dittmer had already made an impressive save with his feet to thwart Dene Cropper, who had been played in by a square ball from Gary Townsend.

Worksop took the lead on 36 minutes when the roles were reversed and Cropper crossed from the right to Townsend. And although Dittmer saved his initial shot, the striker was on hand to slot in the rebound.

Vauxhall almost levelled seconds later when Peter Cumiskey caught visiting custodian Kris Rogers off his line with a lobbed effort, but the backtracking keeper spectacularly tipped his effort over the bar.

Worksop had several chances to add to their lead after the break, but James Dudgeon was denied as his powerful 40-yard effort was turned around the post by Dittmer while Townsend fired a free header wide of the keeper's right-hand post.

Rogers again saved well from Cumiskey when the home forward cut inside from lively substitute Karl O'Donnell's diagonal ball, but Vauxhall finally drew level six minutes from full-time.

The despairing Worksop defender on the line, Kevin Davies, was unable to prevent Mike Tomlinson's header from crashing into the net from Robbie Lawton's left-wing corner kick.

The Motormen pushed hard in the latter stages and O'Donnell almost grabbed a winner, but he shot straight at Rogers after outpacing Anthony Jackson to a Cumiskey flick-on.

Vauxhall: Dittmer, Spellman (Parry 81), McDermott, Glendenning (Flood 69), Tomlinson, Brazier, Nesbitt, Lawton, Wright (O'Donnell 62), Olsen, Cumiskey. Attendance 204.