The points were shared as North Shields and Billingham Town couldn’t be seperated in an uneventful 0-0 draw.
Shields almost broke the deadlock in the first half when Paul Robinson’s lobbed effort was cleared off the line by a defender.
Billingham responded well and would have scored midway through the second half if not for a tremendous save from Greg Purvis.
But with Shields pushing for a late winner, referee Alex Clark called time on a game in which both sides couldn’t break the deadlock.
The visitors started the game brightly and in the seventh minute, Luke Hogan broke through on goal. Just as the attacker was about to pull the trigger, Paul New flew in with an excellent challenge to sweep the ball from under his feet and to safety.
Shields were slow to get off the mark but in the 16th minute, Denver Morris tried his luck from range, only to see the ball whistle narrowly over the crossbar.
With the hosts beginning to turn the screw, a brilliant Robinson lob in the 20th minute needed to be cleared off the line by Billingham defender Jamie Poole.
In-form Billingham Town didn’t sit back and only moments later, a well-struck corner needed to be cleared off the line by a Robins defender.
New was having a strong first half and after winning the ball in the centre of the pitch, he was able to feed Ryan Carr the ball, with the Shields midfielder sending his long-range shot, in the 35th minute, just over the crossbar.
Two minutes later, Kyle Patton had a fantastic chance after being on the receiving end of a Nick Cassidy throw in. However, his effort was blocked by a diving Billingham defender, with the ball being cleared to safety.
Shields were peppering the Billingham Town goal and in the 42nd minute, a deflected Denver Morris shot needed hooking off the line by the last man in defence.
Seconds later, following a looping cross, striker Connor Campbell’s diving header took another deflection off a defender before bobbling behind for a corner.
If the first half belonged to North Shields, the second half was certainly belonged to the visitors.
Only two minutes after the restart, Jamie Davis broke through on goal, only for Purvis to pull of a smart save to deny the visiting attacker.
In the 51st minute, Dan Flounders was left wondering how he hadn’t opened the scoring for Billingham, with his sliding effort at the far post magnificently clawed off the line by the Shields shot-stopper.
The Robins were facing wave after wave of attack from the visitors, with a Gary Ormston header in the 57th minute preventing another chance on the home goal.
Home supporters had to wait until the 61st minute for the first Shields chance of the half, with substitute Cam Cunningham’s header flying straight into the arms of keeper Bradley Young.
Replicating his tremendous goal-preventing tackle in the first half, New once again rescued the Robins’ blushes in the 64th minute. After the ball was given away cheaply, the former Darlington Railway Athletic defender was on hand to prevent a certain Billingham goal, following a tremendous last ditch tackle.
The game seemed to peter out in the 70th minute, with both sides struggling to maintain possession of the ball.
However, with only two minutes left on the clock, Carr almost snatched all three points for the Robins, only to see his poweful shot cannon off the crossbar before being hooked clear.
And just before the referee blew for full time, Morris turned his man on the edge of the box before slicing his shot well wide of the goal; forcing both teams to share the spoils.
