WATCHET TOWN 1 WORLE 1: Watchet and Worle shared the spoils in their scrappy 1-1 draw at the Memorial Ground.

In the game a week Saturday, Connor Shopland was sin-binned by the referee before the match was five minutes old for routinely questioning a decision. It was the prelude to a stop-start encounter which was often more stop than start .

Watchet tried to get the ball down and pass it, but were unable to do it as often as they would have liked, while the visitors relied heavily on a more direct route to their big experienced pair of strikers. Both sides defended strongly with the home side repelling some set pieces as Worle looked slightly more likely to make the breakthrough.

The Red & Blacks had a couple of efforts from outside the box from Charley Clausen which did not trouble the keeper before taking the lead 5 minutes from the interval.

A rare touch of quality saw Aaron Deeks flick a pass adroitly into the path of oncoming full back Eben Harding, who drove the ball first time into the net.

After the half-time break a thundering 25-yard drive from Shopland crashed against the angle of post and bar to leave the goal-frame shaking as Watchet went within inches of increasing their advantage.

Proceedings then took a twist as the previously solid home rearguard was breached by a clever free kick which saw Blakemore flick a volley on the turn into the opposite corner of the net.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men for a rash tackle by Darch on Billy Jones for which he was shown a straight red card while the Watchet player had a yellow for his reaction. Instead of making the most of their extra man Watchet took their foot off the gas and did not pass the ball enough to stretch the play and make use of the space. The official’s whistle was still much in evidence and numbers were evened up to 10 a side when Jones was shown a second yellow for a late tackle which meant an early departure.

WATCHET: Adam Bishop, Jay Darrell, Brandon Walsh, Ali Harrison, Eben Harding, Connor Shopland, Charley Clausen, Josh Aspey, Billy Jones, Lewis Ahmet, Aaron Deeks. Subs: Lewis Rogers, Cody Truscott (both used).

Watchet’s A & P Farmer man of the match was Eben Harding.

This Saturday Watchet travelled to Bristol to face Mendip Broadwalk.