Carlton Town 1-1 Shepshed Dynamo (Northern Premier League Midlands Division) 18.12.21

Carlton Town missed a string of opportunities including a stoppage time penalty as they were held 1-1 by Shepshed Dynamo at Stoke Lane.

The Millers should have been out of reach by half time but they were made to pay for their profligacy as substitute Leke Shodunke equalised for the visitors with three minutes remaining.

Tommy Brookbanks and Mark Harvey made two changes to the side which had drawn at Bedworth last time out. Out went Deon Meikle (unavailable) and Aaron Opoku (suspended) and in came Toby Moore and Khyle Sargent. There was a place on the bench for recent loan signing from Basford, Niall Towle.

Dynamo featured ex-Miller and Montserrat International Massiah McDonald in their starting eleven.

Carlton began on the front foot and were almost ahead on five minutes when Niall Davie cut in from the right and hit a fierce drive which drew a decent save from Brandon Ganley.

Alex Howes should have opened the scoring two minutes later when Ganley sliced a backpass high into the air. Howes was straight onto it but instead of a first time shot into an open goal he elected to control the ball, but was forced away from goal by Ganley and the chance was lost.

A minutes later Tyler Blake played a lovely ball to Nat Watson. He darted into the area, took the ball around Ganley but instead of shooting he tried to pass to Howes and once again a golden chance was squandered.

Watson did have the ball in the net on 10 minutes when he turned home a superb cross from Blake only to be denied by an offside flag that looked dubious to say the least.

The Millers finally got the goal their pressure deserved on 13 minutes. Lawrence Gorman crossed from the right, Blake flicked on and Howes hit a lovely volley from the edge of the box beyond Ganley and into the net.

The Millers then had a lucky escape when Kieran Preston completely missed his kick from a Gorman back pass and only just managed to scramble back and clear the ball off the goal line.

Dynamo’s first real effort on goal came on 27 minutes when a powerful Jordan Smithy header was well blocked by Dan Brown. Back at the other end Watson and Davie combined to leave Jiah Medrano on the floor but Ganley was able to clear ahead of Blake.

Danny Elliott and Khyle Sargent had been having excellent games in midfield and indeed Carlton looked very solid but a second goal was always needed as some measure of security. McDonald almost levelled for Shepshed early in the second half but Preston did well to clear away his shot with his foot.

Howes picked up a hamstring injury and so was replaced by Towle and Carlton soon introduced Dan Fletcher and Jared Holmes, with Tyler Johal pushing further forward.

A cross from Fletcher was teed up for Watson by Towle but Watson’s shot was deflected over the bar.

Preston did well to hold onto a James Sneddon shot as the game entered the final 10 minutes.

A Carlton corner was cleared only to Moore who sent over a peach of a cross that both Blake and Towle should have converted at the far pots but bot missed the ball.

With three minutes remaining Shepshed equalised. A free kick from the right wasn’t cleared and at the second attempt Shodunke fired in an angled drive that flew past Preston.

Carlton were presented with a golden opportunity to win the game in the second minute of added time when Modrano brought down Johal in the area for a penalty. But Ganley guessed the right way and saved Watson’s spot kick comfortably. Astonishingly, Carlton Town have missed every penalty they have been awarded this season when regular taker Tom Maddison has not been on the pitch.

Carlton Town: Preston, Gorman, Johal, Brown, Moore, Elliott, Watson, Sargent (Holmes 68), Howes (Towle 54), Blake, Davie (Fletcher 65).

*Article provided by Sky Blue Miller.

*Main image @ShepshedDynamo Danny Elliott (left) closes down a Shepshed attack.