There was another almost full squad of players at the managers' disposal and Craig dediced to start with the starting line-up from last week's 7-3 win against Duke of York.
Smithfield started pretty well with plenty of posession in good areas of the field, much of it in the last third, but for all their posession were unable to break down the - better than average - New Inn defence. The Smitfield defence on the other hand were rarely troubled. Matt Rogers - unable to shrug off a hip-injury - was nowhere near his usual standard and, save for a couple of breaks down the wings that didn't really threaten the Smithfield goal, New Inn had to resort to hopeful long range shots that were easily dealt with by Stanway.
Jones looked useful at times and was able to put plenty of crosses across the box, but for whatever reason the Smithfield forwards were unwilling to make the gamble and most crosses either fell to the New Inn 'keeper or overshot the box out of harms way.
Nigel struggled to make an impact on the right wing, unwilling to pass the ball as much as he should and instead tiring himself out trying to run rings round the opposition. He was subbed at half time.
Maskery, fresh from a night on the town and stinking of beer, was all over the pitch helping at the back when needed and putting some clever balls through for the forwards. Unfortunately they just weren't on the same page today and most of these balls trickled through to New Inn players harmlessley.
The best opportunity of the first half fell to New Inn, with their striker capitalising on a defensive error and lashing a vicious shot across Stanway (which he had covered) from the left, putting just wide.
As the first half progressed many of the Smithfield players showed signs of feeling the heat and became lethargic, ending up second to many tackles and passes. Although there had been no goals for either team, Smithfield left the pitch as half time the unhappier of the two teams, knowing that they weren't performing well as a team today.
After a morale-boosting team talk from Craig at half time, and plenty of Caffeine Boost Lucozade (no oranges), the Smithfield returned to the pitch determined to improve on the first half performance. Nick replaced Nigel and slotted into the right-back position, allowing Matt Craig to move up to his favoured right wing position.
With the sun at their backs now (and the cloud rolling in) Smithfield started the half better than they'd finished the first with some better passing and possession higher up the field.
New Inn came close to scoring early on with two on one against Stanway, who rushed out at the oncoming striker who squared the ball to his strike partner for an easy tap-in. Nick came across with a desperate last-minute lunge to the ball that may have just done enough to put the New Inn striker off, who proceeded to miss the ball completely and let Smithfield off the hook.
Other than that New Inn rarely ventured into Smithfield's first third but against the general run of play, on 59 minutes a defensive miscommunication between Nick and Askey allowed the Ne Inn striker to intercept a suicidal ball between the two of them and have an almost free run to goal.
The New Inn striker hit a hard, low & looping shot and although it had lots of power the accuracy was poor and it travelled almost straight at Stanway, who was unable to move his right leg from the floor, letting the ball travel under his glove and ricochett off his shin into the net. He's still wondering what happened and is unable to answer why he let such a soft goal in.
Reeling slightly from this Smithfield looked shakey for ten minutes or so but New Inn were unable to capitalise, again with no more forays into the Smithfield first third.
Smithfield started to pile on the pressure once more and were creating chances but were unable to craft a clear shot on goal, until Matt Maskery popped up with a wonderful individual goal from the left two yards from the goal line and eight yards out. After some sustained pressure that saw Seymour and Jones causing mayhem round the New Inn 18-yard box, Maskery was able to keep the ball from going out for a goal kick and blast over the 'keepers head into the far side of the net.
Smithfield were back on terms and continued the pressure from the kickoff. Within minutes Smithfield created a string of chances, with forcing a diving save from the 'keeper with a reaction-header that came from a shot-come-cross from Jones. Minutes later Evans had his best chance of the game when he ran thirty yards through the centre of the pitch only to see his shot tipped over the bar by the 'keeper for a goal kick (the ref had a poor game).
New signing Tony Bagnall came on for Hickin in midfield on 70 minutes and looked useful in both a defensive and offensive capacity. Back from a holiday in the Maldives (they didn't catch him for planting that bomb) Mark Stanway came on for a cameo on 87 minutes.
With such sustained pressure it was only a matter of time before Smithfield were going to score, but unfortunately before Stanway had more than two touches of the ball the ref was blowing the whistle for full time.
Feeling slightly dejected and knowing they could and should have won the game easily, Smithfield left the pitch with a 1-1 draw against the team on top of the table.
Midway through the second half managers Craig and Plant would have settled for the draw, but on reflection they feel that Smithfield should have come away with all three points. Too many people did not perform as well as they should this week but although this was the case and Smithfield never got out of third gear, the management feel that New Inn were playing at their capacity so this has to be good news for the rest of the season. To the team's credit, to be unhappy with a 1-1 draw against the top team (admiitedly after only three games) who are playing on their own pitch at full capacity, speaks volumes about the desire and commitment within our side.
Let's hope we can move on and take the points from Rising Sun next week, a team who beat New Inn when they played a few weeks ago.
MotM: Matt Maskery
Goals: Matt MAskery, 66 minutes
Reported by Ian Stanway
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