Nuneaton 0 AFC Telford 0 - match report

It is a crying shame that such a high quality game of non-League football will only be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

Ninety minutes packed with drama lacked only a goal to provide the icing on a match that was a credit to both teams.

Adam Proudlock's failure from the penalty spot ultimately proved fatal for Telford's chances of defeating one of their main rivals in the Blue Square Bet North promotion race.

But for goalkeeper Ryan Young's terrific late save from former Buck Lee Moore, it might have been Nuneaton who had the last laugh. Instead, it is the moronic and yobbish behaviour of a few hooligans that will live longest in the memory of Telford's latest trip to Warwickshire.

The sight of 60 or 70 Bucks fans running terrified across the pitch for cover from a barrage of bottles, bricks, tyres and even road signs is one that belongs to a different age.

We thought such sad scenes had been left behind in the dark days of the 1970s and 1980s, when trouble of this nature was depressingly commonplace.

But the ugly spectre of football hooliganism was back on the agenda yesterday - and it is a credit to the large travelling support in a crowd of 1,502 that it was not even worse.

In extreme provocation the supporters from Shropshire did not retaliate, allowing stewards and police to belatedly regain control.

Many of those Telford fans were clearly shaken by their ordeal, and their team's failure to pick up three points will seem secondary in importance.

This though, was a very different goalless draw to the one against Stafford two days earlier and the Bucks came away from it with much of which to be proud.

Winger Greg Mills, playing the last game of his loan spell, was much-improved on his New Year's Day showing and he twice went close with shots from narrow angles in the first period.

Proudlock and Andy Brown also spurned opportunities to break the deadlock before the break, though Nuneaton - with ex-Bucks Moore, Justin Marsden and Simon Forsdick to the fore - also had their moments.

Chris Dillon looked to have opened the scoring on 41 minutes when he lashed a shot past Young, only for the outstanding Shane Killock to make a stunning goal-line clearance.

Killock and the experienced Stuart Whitehead excelled in the heart of the Telford defence all afternoon while Phil Trainer was back to something like his best in midfield.

It made for great viewing and the Bucks should have taken the lead inside five minutes of the re-start when Mills was scythed down by over-worked Nuneaton full-back Rob Oddy.

Proudlock, not for the first time this season, could not deliver from the penalty spot - his strike being held by keeper Danny Alcock.

The former Wolves striker had one big chance to make amends 10 minutes from time when space opened up in the box but he delayed to long and Alcock got in with a vital block.

Nuneaton had plenty of the ball in the final 20 minutes but rarely threatened a winner until deep into injury-time.

Moore - still Telford's record signing at £5,000 - almost came back to haunt them as he drilled a shot through a crowded box but Young was paying close attention and got down well to parry.

The keeper then showed bravery to smother the loose ball, taking an inadvertent whack from Danny Spencer for his troubles.

A draw was just about the right result in the final reckoning and both these sides will surely be in the mix for the play-offs or better come April.

By Chris Hudson