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Point of honour for battling Town
AFC Telford 0 Fleetwood Town 0 MOST of the plaudits went the way of defenders as Town stretched their unbeaten run in Blue Square North to four.
Both sides had inflicted defeat on Alfreton Town in their last outing – those two matches produced seven goals, though neither side could find the cutting edge to force a breakthrough on a cold and wet afternoon in Shropshire.
Town manager Micky Mellon said afterwards: "If you had offered us four points from two tough away games we would have taken that.
"In all honesty, we didn't create too many chances worthy of winning the game, but we kept a clean sheet and I thought the back four were absolutely fantastic. It was a very hard-fought draw."
Mellon made three changes to the side that beat Alfreton, two of them enforced.
Tom Cahill and Gareth Seddon started up front in place of the ill Adam Warlow and Mike Wilde, who switched to the bench.
Craig Dootson, ineligible for the Alfreton game, returned in goal as Danny Hurst's hand injury spared Mellon from choosing between the two keepers he rates as the best in Blue Square North.
Dootson had even less to do than opposite number Ryan Young on a day when much of the action was condensed in the middle third and Town's admirable back-line restricted Telford to a handful of chances.
The keeper's third successive clean sheet in his fourth match for Town was achieved with the aid of impressive full-backs Shaun Beeley, whose his forays upfield caught the eye, and the commanding Alan Wright, together with dependable centre-halves Michael Taylor and man-of-the-match Steve McNulty.
Steven Connors was more than a match for Chris Nurse in their midfield tussle, helped by Jamie McGuire who was busy at both ends.
It wasn't a day for elegant wing play but Jamie Mullan was unfortunate not to open his Town account after a number chances.
Warlow was unable to travel, providing the opportunity for Cahill to add to his two goals against Telford in August's 3-1 Highbury victory, but he had no more success finding a way throught the Telford defence than his second-half replacement Wilde.
Cahill was first to test Young on seven minutes but the home keeper held the shot.
The striker then had the best of the early chances but drove just wide from outside the box.
When McGuire was booked on 20 minutes, the resulting free-kick was followed by penalty claims from the home fans, who felt Joe Adams was held back, but Town cleared their lines.
Another free-kick forced Dootson's first save of the match, when Nurse found Adams.
Young passed a more testing examination at the other end, tipping over a 40-yard strike from Connors.
The home keeper then palmed away a McGuire effort and the stretching Town midfielder went close again but couldn't quite latch on to Mullan's ball.
Both sides spurned the chance to take a lead late in the half, when Nurse was allowed two bites of the cherry from the edge of the Town box.
At the other end, Connors released Seddon, who rounded Young only for Shane Killock to make a last-ditch intervention to the delight of the home crowd.
The second half served up less goalmouth action and little early festive cheer.
Steven Torpey's introduction in place of Sean Clancy met with a hostile reception for the former Telford man.
Seddon did have the ball in the net but the referee indicated an arm had been used.
The striker had another chance from a free-kick he had won close to the bye-line. McGuire's inswinger was punched into Seddon's path by Young but the shot flashed wide.
Another Fleetwood free-kick, this time won by Connors, resulted in two Mullan shots – the first found the wall, the second the keeper.
The best chance of the half fell to Seddon. When Mullan failed to connect with a header, the ball fell to the striker but he steered his shot the wrong side of the post.
The introduction of Telford substitute Steve Thompson for the final ten minutes forced Town onto the back-foot but solid defending, particularly by Beeley, secured the draw to the relief of the 100-strong travelling Cod Army.
Yet Town almost snatched all three points at the end, when Mullan created space for himself only to see his shot clear the bar by inches.
Town have slipped a spot to sixth in the table, overtaken by Corby, and now trail leaders Southport by 12 points from three fewer games.
They return to league action at Northwich Victoria a week tomorrow following Saturday's trip to Blue Square Premier club Chester City in the FA Trophy.
Fleetwood: Dootson, Beeley, Wright, Taylor, McNulty, McGuire, Clancy (Torpey), Connors, Cahill (Wilde), Seddon, Mullan; subs not used: Milligan, Pond, Rogan.
DERICK THOMAS
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Weather for Blackpool
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
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Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
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