Pilgrims vs Epsom 6's 2-2 Match report by Tom Baker

From Match Day Reporter I P Freely.

A week on from the Pilgrims second win of the season against the league leaders they faced another top of the table side in Epsom 6's. The relatively unchanged side lined up in Captain Dacks recently preferred formation for what they knew would be another mainly defensive encounter. Epsom 6's, their development side, lived up to expectations, a young side with plenty of skill & energy supported by some solid older players.

Pilgrims had push back and from the off had to defend, Epsom pressed hard keeping plenty of pressure on with numerous scoring chances and a couple of short corners. Youth denied by experience as pilgrims back line of Crawley, Hall, Lowe and Pilkington (making his debut at left back) held strong with Mark (the cat) Platts-Mills making some surprisingly good low saves to keep the game open. 1st half ended 0-0

The second half looked to be following a similar pattern when an early break from the pilgrims found James Maiklem who drove hard at the defence and slotted the ball home to put pilgrims ahead. Epsom rallied at going a goal down and equalised within 5 minutes. The game then settled back into its familiar pattern with pilgrims pushed back into their own half.

Numerous short corners followed, at which point play was suspended whilst 'the cat' questioned the integrity of the away umpire who was not best pleased and contemplated resting the cat for a short period. A bully off and play resumed, Epsom finally converting a short corner to make it 2-1 to the away side. With 5 minutes to go and nothing to lose

Pilgrims pushed hard for a point, numerous excursions into the Epsom D finally led to a short corner. Howard Chick orchestrated a routine which presented an open goal for Pilgrims top scorer Owens who surprised himself and scored to level the match with only seconds left to play. MOM was James Maiklem for his goal, work rate and demonstrated ability.