Lowestoft Town bag important point on the road at Banbury

Lowestoft Town gained a creditable point on the road in a goalless draw at Banbury United.

The Trawlerboys made two changes to their starting line up with Andrew Fisk suspended and Luca Vega unavailable, Adam Tann and Henry Pollock coming into the team.

There was a dramatic start to the game when after just 63 seconds both teams were taken off the pitch to allow the Thames Valley Air Ambulance to land and attend a life threatening medical emergency. Play was suspended for 75 minutes with the game restarting at 4.15pm.

When the game got under way again it was the strong freezing wind which had the greatest influence on the game. It was proving difficult for players to judge the strength of passes with many at both ends being over hit.

The Puritans were the first to threaten with John Mills finding space and sending a shot across the face of the goal and scraping the outside of the post. Edmond Hottor was played clear and it took a great recovering tackle from Tann to save the day. Banbury were having the better of the early stages and Mills was close again with another attempt across goal which Elvijs Putnins just managed to get a hand to and turn against the upright.

Lowestoft came more into the game with Armani Schaar racing through but instead of shooting he tried to square the ball to Matt Brown but Ricky Johnson nipped in to clear.

As the game progressed both sides had spells on top but with very few direct attempts on goal. Kieran Higgs was again proving a thorn in the Puritans defence but much good work was being negated by a reluctance to shoot or find a colleague. He made one excellent run through the middle which seemed to open up for him but an excellent last gasp tackle by Charlie Wise knocked the ball away for a corner.

As the game reached the final quarter half chances were being created with Brown shooting straight at Manny Agboola and a Tann header just clearing the bar. Putnins had to react quickly to pounce on a deflected shot from Wise in a crowded six-yard box.

Lowestoft finished on the offensive with a Connor Deeks shot being punched away by Agboola and the Trawlerboys were all so close to snatching a last second winner with a low left wing corner flicked goalwards scrambled off the goal line by the post just as the referee signaled the end of the game.

Banbury United: Agboola, Hawtin, Taylor, Hottor (Nash 46), Johnson, Wise, Kaziboni, Odhiambo, Mills, Shamsi (Diggin 73), Rasulo (Awadh 61). Subs not used: Whitehead, Bell.

Lowestoft Town: Putnins, Schaar, Wilkinson, Deeks, Jarvis, Tann, Pollock (Pinheiro 90+2), Smith, Bammant, Higgs, Brown. Subs not used: Hedge, Wren, Fowkes, Reynolds

Referee: Mr R Ricardo

Attendance: 326