Darlaston Town (1874) 2 Old Wufrunians 2

Both sides kept their recent unbeaten league form in tact, a Josh Wright goal 12 minutes from time snatching a point for the impressive visitors in a competitive 2-2 draw.

The home side made the better start as early chances fell to Josh Carvel and Hayden Hughes went begging in the opening 10 minutes. The visitors gradually eased themselves into the game with some fine possession football, Andrew Broom particularly impressive and speedster Noah Diallo causing problems down the right flank. Despite their possession Wulfs were not threatening the home goal as Darlaston looked more penetrative as two consecutive corners saw McAllister and Swann both glancing headers wide.

Hughes and Carvel were working well together and Alex Haynes and Elliott Fenn were both called upon with last ditch tackles to deny the home side.

Darlaston rued their missed chances when Wulfs took the lead on 29 minutes. Andrew Broom and Chris Farnell combined to set up Noah Diallo at the far post to drive home from 6 yards. The goal was a major set back for the home side and the half closed with Wulfs on top but without creating any goalscoring opportunities.

Player/ manager Mark Swann switched from central defence to centre forward after the break and the move paid immediate dividends. On 47 minutes Darlaston were on level terms when a long throw from Craig Ball was headed on by Swann to Hughes who laid it off to Carvell to notch his first goal. Just 3 minutes later Carvell was again on the mark with his 4th goal in 4 league games. Wulfs keeper Tom Dudley failed to clear a back pass properly and his attempted clearance was charged down by Carvell to score from 10 yards.

After a dominant spell Darlaston failed to put the game beyond an impressive Wulfs side and were grateful to skipper Ryan Mc Allister who cleared a superb Andrew Broom header over the bar to deny the visitors an equaliser. The game was end to end and the fourth goal was always going to be crucial. It was the visitors who scored it in the 78th minute Josh wight unleashing a vicious 22 yard drive giving home keeper Aaron Morris no chance.

On the stroke of full time Swann thought he had snatched all three points but his glancing header missed the target by inches with keeper Tom Dudley stranded.

Player /boss Mark Swann reflected " Both Luke Charlton and Lucas Hough were unavailable today and we missed their energy and presence in midfield. They both break up play and we did not do enough of that today , we gave them too much time on the ball in midfield and this allowed players of the quality of Broom and Pearson to have plenty of possession.

We opened strongly and could have scored at least two or three goals before they scored. I was not happy at half time and changed the formation to have 3 up front. It worked well and when we went 2-1 up I thought we looked comfortable for about 25 minutes and should have put the game beyond doubt. the equaliser was disappointing because they did not have to work hard for it. a quick throw in caught us napping and Josh Wright hit an unstoppable shot from just outside the box.

They are a good side and will be very difficult to beat this season. That said we can still take some positives from the game. Josh Carvel and Hayden Hughes are forming a good partnership up front and we extended our unbeaten League run to 7 games. With 19 points out of the last 21 I have to be pleased but I will be looking to further strengthen the squad in the next couple of weeks."