AFC Telford 2 Eastwood 2 - match report

With the end in sight we may now have to get used to gritty nights like this.

Pretty it certainly wasn't. Neither was it free-flowing or packed with moments of individual skill.

Yet this uncompromising, chaotic and physical clash between two Blue Square Bet North heavyweights was still compelling.

Both sides reported for duty in a rich vein of form, Telford having taken 22 points out of a possible 24 in their last eight league games while Eastwood arrived in Shropshire on the back of seven straight victories.

Oozing confidence, the visitors bullied the league leaders at times and showed exactly why they have been dismissing all-comers in recent weeks.

Telford found themselves stretched in all areas and their team shape, usually held so rigidly, started to dissolve.

Eastwood had the ball in the net on 13 minutes, Lindon Meikle bundling in after Lee Stevenson's shot had been parried by keeper Ryan Young, only for the offside flag to save Telford's blushes.

There was nothing Young could do just eight minutes later as a defence-splitting pass from Matthew Rhead found Stevenson and the forward buried his shot.

Yet Telford had their moments too, in a fast and furious opening 45 minutes.

Before the deadlock had been broken, Brown had forced Eastwood keeper Jon Danby into a terrific one-handed save and Greg Mills and Carl Rodgers had both seen follow-up efforts blocked.

Brown then combined brilliantly with Adam Proudlock, who could only lift his shot over the bar.

As half-time drew close, Mills had gone close to an equaliser with a shot on the turn that drew Danby into another fine save.

The Bucks then drew level as Brown beat Danby to a Sean Newton cross and flicked a header which looped in..

That was a relief, and there was more to come from Telford, who went ahead less than a minute into the second half with a touch of class from Mills.

Proudlock was again the instigator with a great ball to release Brown one-on-one. The striker could not get past Danby but the ball broke to Mills who, from the edge of the box, calmly stroked a side-footed shot into the net.

The Bucks might have hoped to push on for an eighth win in nine from there but were instead pegged back less than four minutes later as Rhead was allowed to ghost unmarked between centre-backs Shane Killock and Stuart Whitehead to head home.

"The biggest disappointmentfor me was seeing us surrender the lead so quickly," said Telford boss Andy Sinton. "I think we could have stopped the cross and their lad has got between the two centre-halves seven or eight yards out and in acres of space. That shouldn't happen."

Eastwood briefly thought they had restored their lead when Stevenson lashed in after Young had brilliantly palmed away Meikle's goal-bound shot — the offside flag coming to the Bucks' rescue for the second time.

Jon Adams then went close to a Telford winner inside the final 15 minutes, David Haggerty spectacularly clearing his effort off the line.

In a contest that could have gone either way, Telford should not feel too deflated at having to settle for a point.

This promotion race looks set to go to the wire.

By CHRIS HUDSON