Beer Albion reserves were held 1-1 by Starcross Generals in an entertaining Fresha League Division Five encounter at the Furzebrake, writes Richard Honnor.

The result was probably a fair reflection of the game.

The Generals had more of the possession and the Fishermen had to defend desperately at times but Beer had the more clear-cut chances and will be disappointed with their finishing on the day.

The Fishermen got off to a great start taking the lead on five minutes with a ‘route-one’ goal.

A long clearance from keeper Mike Westlake was completely misjudged by the visitors defence and Simon Smith took advantage to slot the ball home. Starcross came back strongly and Beer’s defence was at full stretch, particularly down the right wing from where the visitors launched most of their attacks.

Westlake had to be alert to save a header on eight minutes after a clumsy Beer tackle on the edge of the box. On 20 minutes Beer were lucky not to concede a penalty when a handball was adjudged to be just outside the box. From the resulting free kick, Westlake was again called into action with a double save to rescue his team. Starcross’s pressure eventually told in the 28th minute when Stefan Cottam equalised from close range following yet another strong run down the right.

Beer responded well and came close to scoring on a couple of occasions before the break, firstly an overhead kick from Adam Brewer whistling over the bar and then Tom Neale missing the target from eight-yards. After the break, it was end-to-end excitement with both sides going for the winner. Beer played some neat football, whilst Starcross employed a more direct approach. On 67 minutes, Smith missed the target from close range after a fine passing move had split the Generals defence and four minutes later Brewer’s shot went just wide after another fine move. At the other end, Starcross went close on a couple of occasions. Smith had one final opportunity to seal the points for Beer but missed the target and both sides had to settle for one point.

There were some outstanding performances for Beer particularly in defence.

Jack Prior was outstanding at centre back and he was well supported by full backs Aaron Wain and Todd Lewendon, and keeper Westlake.