Slimbridge 0 Tuffley Rovers 0

A STALEMATE in this Hellenic Premier Division local derby was not what Slimbridge wanted and their failure to put away a number of good chances in the last 20 minutes could prove costly come the end of the season.

Tuffley more than held their own until they started struggling near the end, although at the finish they were the happier of the two sides, naturally.

There was little urgency about the first half proceedings and few early goal scoring opportunities at either end, although Bradley Thornbury was unlucky with a shot on goal which home goalkeeper Ryan Chandler did well to deflect for a corner.

David Gibbs curled a shot just over from a wide angle before seeing a well struck shot cleared off the Slimbridge goal line by Richard Evans.

At the other end Mike Symons fired over after good work from Rich Moore and Evans had opened up the visitors' defence. Then, Fred Ward put a good cross over but Moore's downward header shaved the outside of a post. Right on the interval Symons struck the base of a post after being fed by Julian Freeman.

Alternate bursts of wind and rain punctuated the second half on an increasingly treacherous pitch, rather limiting both sides attacking instincts, but on 70 minutes Peter Thomas burst through the middle and dragged his shot wide of the Slimbridge goal.

This effort seemed to prompt Slimbridge into finally pressing forward more as the pace of the game improved considerably.

Moore dragged a cross down and set up James Ackland, who shot inches wide of the far post, and then Adam Philp, on for an exhausted Freeman, brought a good save from Scott Rose between the Rovers sticks.

Rovers survived a series of corners with their defence working hard, none more so than skipper Mark Patterson and Kacey Johnstone at the heart of it.

Having absorbed so much pressure there was always the fear for Slimbridge of being caught on the break and just before the end it took a tremendous recovery tackle from Leon Sterling to dispossess a speeding Will Morford, nearly through on goal.

In the final analysis the game suffered from the difficult conditions. Both sides worked hard but proved too predictable to break the deadlock.

Slimbridge: R Chandler, L Sterling, J Embling, A Pritchett, R Evans, R Moore, E Ward, M Symons, J Freeman (A Philp 76), C Cole, T Radcliffe (J Ackland 65).

L Tomorrow Slimbridge visit Abingdon United for an Hellenic Premier match (3pm).

In the reverse fixture last November United came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with an 89th minute equaliser and although they have not travelled too well this season, their home form has been convincing most of the time.

A real challenge to get a result will be the order of the day for Slimbridge in this one.