Our 21st game of the season away at a bitterly cold Penrith ended in a 2-2 draw.
Reece Wanless scored a beauty to give the Robins a lead in the first half, but the tide soon shifted, and by the half hour mark the Bonny blues were 2-1 up thanks to a Connor Shields brace.
But it was a much better second half from Brian Smith’s side, who eventually grabbed an equaliser thanks to a penalty by substitute Jordan Lashley.
In the early stages of the game the Robins looked the more dangerous of the two sides, eight minutes in Blair Adams, who looked lively, rattled the post with a left footed shot inside the box. A minute later, Lee Mason almost snuck in an opener after a clever pass to him from a free-kick.
It didn’t look as though it would take long for The Robins to find the net, and the breakthrough came in the 18th minute. An attack down the right wing saw some excellent link-up play between Wanless and Mason, culminating in the former curling the ball past goalkeeper Lewis Boyd from a tight angle at the far post. 0-1.
You could’ve been forgiven for thinking that the Robins would continue controlling the game like this for the remainder of the half, especially with the recent departure of The Bonny Blues’ top goalscorer Luke Hunter. But they had a surprise up their sleeve in the form of two sucker punch goals by Connor Shields.
The first came after a long ball over the top caused confusion between Robins defenders Dan Cherry and Ben Harmison. The pair collided as they attempted to clear, and Shields capitalised, running between them to slot the ball home. 1-1.
The second was a much more impressive goal, another long ball from midfield was played by the home side, this time to Connor Hammell on the right wing, who blitzed past his man before firing a low ball into the box, where Shields was on-hand to tap in. 2-1. Just like that, the game was completely on its head.
Penrith then looked poised to extend their lead when Shields received the ball again on the edge of the box, however this time Dan Cherry stood firm to take the ball off him and launch a counter attack.
The Robins were very much still in the game despite the two quick goals, Blair Adams and Ben Sampson looked bright and created plenty of attacking moves, however finding that final pass was usually what was holding the away side back.
The second half was much stronger for the away side, almost scoring a direct corner in the opening moments.
We then may have been lucky to avoid disaster, as Ben Harmison nearly saw red after a snapping challenge, with referee Ben Whitfield issuing a yellow card after a brief consultation with his assistant.
The real game changer came when Smith made several changes within a short period, as Jordan Lashley, Regan Paterson, Nelson Ogbewe and Jake Lish all came on to replace Euan Anderson, Dean Holmes, Lee Mason, and Dan Cherry within ten minutes of each other.
Of the substitutes, it was Lashley who made the biggest impact. In the 74th minute, he was brought down in the box after a dangerous run into the area. He then confidently stepped up to take the penalty, and though Boyd got a hand to it, the ball found the bottom right corner to make it 2-2.
Reflecting on his penalty after the game, Lashley said; “I don’t really think too much when it comes to penalties, I just pick a side, (…) and if the goalkeeper dives that way hopefully he doesn’t save it because of how hard I’ve hit it.”
We could’ve grabbed a winner with five minutes to go, as Jake Lish fired an effort goalwards from long range, but Boyd did extremely well to scramble and make a save.
Assistant manager Andy Bowman summarised the performance after the game,
“The way we started was really good, we got the goal, a couple of errors led to their two goals to let them back in, but I thought we were really strong in the second half, the subs made a big difference. They came on with great attitudes and made a real difference to the game.
“The lads who started were excellent, nothing against them, but I thought the lads who came on were really good, 2-2 was fair play.”
With the draw behind them, all focus now turns to next week’s FA Vase third-round clash at home to Liversedge, who are unbeaten in their last 24 matches and have lost just once in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division. It promises to be a huge test at the Daren Persson Stadium.
