River Junior 2nd's hold on despite red card…

Ifan Jones reporting…

FC Salle’s opener was cancelled out by an immediate River Junior 2nd's reaction and held on to a draw in the Connerty Cup Group Stage.

Both sides play in League One and Salle are top of the league having played a game extra and River Junior OA 2nd currently sit third, four points adrift so it was set to be a competitive game.

In the previous league fixture, it was River who were victorious by four goals to two.

It was a very windy day, and this played a big role in the game as Salle started with the wind behind them and started came out slightly stronger.

An early free kick for Salle from just outside the post was dangerously delivered across the face of goal but nobody was on the end of it to tap the ball in.

River slowly got better and better and midfield, Callum Halewood showed his ball carrying abilities to help ease the pressure and get his team up the pitch.

But it was Salle who got the lead after River lost the ball playing out in midfield and a well-struck long-range effort by Dean Denson got the visitors in front.

The hosts replied in an instant to make it level, as Graham Mealand dropped deep from the forward line to slot a nicely weighted pass in behind the Salle defence for Halewood to latch onto and make it 1-1.

River Junior almost went straight into the lead Mealand’s effort glided across the face of goal.

The same pattern continued into the second half with the home side looking the more likely of the two teams to get the next goal.

Some clever play from Sean Currie almost created space for forward, Mealand to score but the pass was a little short.

The encounter was a physical one, especially in the second half and Mealand was sent off near the hour mark having flared out an elbow that caught his opponent.

This changed the game, and it was one way traffic for the remaining third of the game as Salle hunted for the winner.
River defended resolutely and didn’t give Salle much of a sniff in terms of a shot on goal.

A couple of late opportunities came for Salle in the final minutes as a header whistled just wide of the post and another big shout claimed that the ball had crossed the line.

But River survived and the referee blew his whistle and both sides shared the points at Leisure United Jeffrey Humble 3G.