FOOTBALLCowes Sports 1, Brockenhurst 1
COWES held second-placed Brockenhurst to a draw at Westwood Park on Sunday, in a game dominated by a strong wind.
Conditions made it a game very much of two halves as Brockenhurst, with the wind behind them, started strongly and took the lead after nine minutes when Ashley Booker scored.
The Yachtsmen did create chances of their own, through Josh Appell, Tom Dye and Darren Williams, but they still trailed at the break.
In the second half, Cowes had the wind advantage and Brockenhurst’s goalkeeper Callum Maher had to be alert to tip Appell’s shot round the post.
The breakthrough came with 25 minutes left on the match, when Dye fired a free kick into the box and Ashley BRETT rose to head firmly past the helpless keeper.
The same player then saved the day at the other end, clearing off the line with Chris Norris stranded by a lob.
The home side looked the more likely winners and Dye’s goal-bound 30-yard effort was spectacularly tipped over by the visitors’ keeper.
With time running out, the Brockenhurst goal was leading a charmed life as first, Costcutter man of the match Appell fired wide at the far post, before hitting a screamer just over, and Craig Insley headed narrowly wide from a Gareth Bricknell free-kick.
Cowes Sports: Norris, Draper, Bryan, Brett, Wilson, Insley, Dye, Burbidge, Williams, Appell, Bricknell. Subs: Herbert, Ince, Wykes, Thurman.