Zamaretto League Division One South & West: Yate Town 1 Almondsbury Town 1 (From Gazette Series)

Zamaretto League Division One South & West: Yate Town 1 Almondsbury Town 1

6:51pm Monday 30th August 2010 in

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ROSS STEARN smashed in a late equaliser for Almondsbury Town in a highly charged local derby at Yate this afternoon.

The game marked Almondsbury manager Richard Thompson’s return to the hometown club he managed for nine years but it looked like he was going to leave with nothing until Stearn struck in the 89th minute.

It is the third time in a row that the Almonds have scored late on as they continue their impressive start to life in the Southern League, but Yate will be disappointed not to take the bragging rights after Mark Reynolds converted a cross by the impressive Jake Cox in the 53rd minute.

Reynolds also saw a shot cleared off the line by Stuart Nelson, while Almondsbury goalkeeper Stuart Jones pulled off a string of outstanding saves, but the visitors also missed a hatful of chances as they piled on the pressure in the second half and a draw was a fair result in the end.

Eight Almondsbury players featured against their former club and David Anyinsah helped change the momentum of the game after his introduction on 71 minutes.

Almondsbury had the better of the early exchanges with Stearn hitting a free kick just wide from 20 yards and ex-Yate captain Scott Brice glancing a header wide from the ex-Bristol City trainee’s corner.

In between, though, Jones had to be alert to come out and block Cox’s shot from close range after the Yate man wriggled free from Marcus Mapstone.

Yate had a good spell midway through the first half and Cox was causing problems down the left, cutting in and firing a shot wide following a good run before his low shot from the edge of the box was well held by Jones.

Cox must have thought he gave Yate the lead on 39 minutes when his driven free kick from 30 yards took a deflection and Jones had to re-adjust quickly before brilliant tipping the ball around his left post.

Almondsbury tried to hit Yate on the counter attack but Stearn opted to try and go in between Tom Warren and Rob Cousins rather than pass to Dean Griffiths in space, before he was tripped and his free kick rebounded back off the wall.

Yate came flying out of the blocks in the second half and Jones did well to tip a Cox free kick from 20 yards over the bar.

Three minutes later Jones excelled himself further when he made a great one-handed save to keep out Reynolds’ well struck volley from ten yards after a clever ball over the top by Chris Lewis.

However, his efforts were in vain as Almondsbury failed to clear their lines properly, Cox went past Nelson on the byline and hit a low cross into the six-yard area where Reynolds was on hand to smash home.

Griffiths should have equalised but somehow volleyed wide with just goalkeeper Josh Dempsey to beat from ten yards after Yate struggled to cope with Ben Willshire’s long free kick.

Yate could have gone further ahead on 74 minutes when the ball fell nicely into Lewis’ path after hitting Mapstone and he drew Jones out before laying off to Reynolds, whose shot was brilliantly blocked by Nelson on the line.

As Almondsbury pressure grew, Stearn headed wide when unmarked from substitute Matt Beadle’s cross and Marvin Brown also headed over after Griffiths crossed into the six-yard box.

Stearn fired a volley across goal on 83 minutes before scoring with an acrobatic finish from ten yards six minutes later after Yate failed to clear Anyinsah’s cross.

Yate Town: Dempsey, Warren, Adams, Cousins, Thomas, McAlinden, Lewis, Vahid ©, Reynolds (Maye, 86), Church, Cox (Duggan, 84). Subs not used: Ballard, Burt, N Hughes.

Almondsbury Town: Jones, Nelson (White, 88), Willshire, Brice, Mapstone, Winter, Stearn, Dunn (Anyinsah, 71), Griffiths, Brown, Wood (Beadle, 61). Subs not used: Whittington, Peckham.

Ref: Mr Hulme Att: 323 Gazette star man: Stuart Jones (Almondsbury Town).