Chasetown Colts travelled to Birmingham to take on Holy Name and came away with a well earned draw in what was a hard fought encounter.

In good weather conditions, Holy Name started the brighter, and pushed Chasetown back in the early stages, but did not create any clear cut chances, on what was a very small pitch for this age group, and this did not help either side to be honest. Chasetown took a little while to settle but once they did they managed to put together some good passages of play, and did manage to threaten the home goal on a few occasions with Dominik Russell looking particularly threatening. One one occasion he managed to wriggle free from his markers but could not quite get a telling strike on goal, and on another occasion was in a good position but delayed a cut back pass to where Kaine Cheshire was waiting, and the chance was gone. Just as the half came to a close, Holy Name had the best chance, which induced a superb reflex save from keeper Lewis Harvey as he pushed a goalbound shot over the bar.

In the second half, it was again even in terms of possession, but clear cut chances were at a premium, in one melee in the Chasetown box, Lewis Harvey was grateful to grab a toe poke from a home forward at the second attempt. Colts had chances as well, Connor Williams going close with a header from a pinpoint corner from Kaine Cheshire. Dominik Russell was again very dangerous up front, but could not forge that clear cut opening either for himself or for his strike partner Kaine Cheshire. However, with a minute or so to go, Chasetown were awarded a penalty by stand in referee, Mark Russell, which was controversial as it was given by a parent of a Chasetown player, but in all fairness it was a definite penalty. Dominik Russell took the penalty himself and although it was well struck, the Holy Name keeper made an excellent save to keep it out.

The game then ended without further incident - and a draw was probably the right result, as both teams did not do enough to win the game - and in the end cancelled each other out, but the small pitch certainly did not help.

As far as the Chasetown boys were concerned - all eight players made good contributions, defensively we were sound backed up again by some good goalkeeping from Lewis Harvey, all the midfielders worked hard and at times played good forward balls for the two strikers who linked up well together, but for the most part were well handled by the home defenders. The supporters award went to Connor Williams for another typically industrious performance and on another day he could have had a goal to his credit as well.

This was a good point on the road against a team that are placed higher than ourselves and they were a tough team to play against as most Birmingham based teams are. We look forward to the return fixture on a pitch that suits our style of football and hope that brings us the right result.