REPORT | Quorn 1-1 Sutton Coldfield Town
The points were shared at Farley Way as Cain Noble’s early goal was cancelled out by Rhys Hilton’s 13th minute penalty. The Reds scored with the first attack of the match as Paddy Webb, returning from a lengthy injury beat his man in the box and squared for Noble to tap in past Jono Brown.
Sutton Coldfield didn’t trail for long though as Billy Kee was adjudged to have fouled James Beresford in the area. Hilton sent Charlie Woods the wrong way to follow up his goal in the demolition of Gresley Rovers the previous weekend.
Quorn felt that they should have had a penalty of their own in the 24th minute, when Webb was brought down from behind, but Referee Gary Caley had other ideas. The Methodists did have the ball in the back of the net just after the half hour mark, but Courey Grantham was ruled offside as he latched on to Chris Robertson’s long ball and lobbed the keeper.
Kee almost broke his Quorn duck with a snatched shot on the turn, after great work from Devon Kelly-Evans to win possession, but his effort was narrowly wide. Webb also saw an effort ruled out, this one as Kee was ruled to have fouled Pedro Lima in the build-up.
Webb was again in the thick of the action Quorn’s top-scorer weaved his way past several defenders before seeing his shot saved. Charlie Marzano picked up the rebound but his effort was also blocked as Sutton Coldfield were clinging on to a point. The Royals almost found a goal of their own though as Hilton burst free at the back post, but the striker blazed high and wide with the goal at his mercy.
The home side were dominating possession and looked the most likely to win the match though, and a superb passing move around the edge of the Sutton box allowed Webb to get a shot off, which flew narrowly wide. Town were limited to shots on the break and it took a superb save from Woods with 30 minutes to go to keep the scores even.
Quorn’s shot-stopper was needed again, just moments later when Lima found himself through on goal. Woods came out quickly and narrowed the angles for Sutton’s centre-half, with the defender firing high over the goal.
Ryan Beswick, wearing the Captain’s armband on his return after almost four months on the sideline, lashed a shot on goal from 30 yards, but it was narrowly wide of the mark as Brown could only watch on. “Bez” wouldn’t see out the 90 minutes on his return though, as two cautions in the space of 13 second half minutes saw him confined to an early shower.
Despite being down to 10 men, Quorn continued to push for a winner and Webb almost got on the end of a cross from Grantham that looked sure to be a simple tap-in, but the striker couldn’t apply the finishing touches. Town almost won it with a Ryan Edmunds strike, but Woods turned the effort over to save the point that has lifted the Reds up to 9th in the table.