Thrills galore as Hinckley United draw with Stalybridge Celtic

Hinckley United's home clash with Stalybridge Celtic ended goalless on Saturday despite the best efforts of both sides.

This was an enthralling encounter between two well-matched teams.

It was also a great advertisement for Blue Square North football as chances came and went at both ends and both sides deserved some reward for their play.

The game was played at a frenetic pace throughout.

Adam Webster's early goal attempt for the Knitters was saved by Paul Phillips who then denied Alex Taylor twice later in the half.

The second of those saves was an excellent one at point-blank range.

Celtic's greatest threat in the first half was from set-pieces.

On two occasions, Paul Ennis delivered corners that found the head of Steve Woods and caused confusion in the home defence before being scrambled to safety.

The Knitters had good spells of pressure in the second half.

Taylor might have done better when his solo run from halfway ended with a weak shot, Andy Gooding curled a shot narrowly wide and Matt West had a shot deflected wide before Webster had a header kicked off the line by Graeme Law.

Celtic then had a good spell. Connor Jennings raced into the area but goalkeeper Chris MacKenzie was alert to the danger and went off his line to block. Warren Peyton's ferocious drive then flashed narrowly off-target as both sides sought to win all three points late on.

Webster went close again in the final minutes when his shot on the turn from the edge of the area crept just wide.

Hinckley are at home again this evening to Gainsborough Trinity.[B]

good report - I hope people read it because it was a very good match. My fear is that people will just see the result and not bother coming tonight.

One would hope so Stewson. The ony down side to the Mercury is sometimes we only get 2 or 3 lines on a Monday after a game,not sure why or if the report is from Andy Gibbs and they just chop it down to fit the space. We do tend to get quite alot of mentions on Radio Leicester though during the week.