BERKELEY TOWN came away from local rivals Brimscombe and Thrupp with a share of the spoils after an entertaining game. The first chance fell to Berkeley’s Richard Langford whose shot went just over the bar after three minutes. One minute later Ben Gillison’s cross-cum shot also just cleared the crossbar. At the other end Lee Pritchard had his shot well blocked with the rebound being headed onto the crossbar by John Dalton. Berkeley pushed the home defence hard in the early stages but good solid defending kept them at bay.

Dalton had a good chance to put the home side ahead but his finishing touch was poor. Berkeley’s Mike Bryant went close with a good shot on the turn from the edge of the box and keeper Adam Thomas saved well from Ryan Stevenson.

Berkeley took the lead after 25 minutes when a long ball into the Brimscombe box was poorly dealt with and some hesitation from both Clark and the keeper allowed Bryant to smash the ball home from six yards.

Town keeper Ewan Prentice was called into action when he was at full stretch to push a Matt Blyth effort around the post. Then Lee Prichard saw his effort from the edge of the box just clear the bar. The home side levelled the scores on 42 minutes when a Berkeley defender handle inside the box and the referee pointed to the spot, with Dalton making no mistake from 12 yards.

The second half could have seen either sides to grab a second but some stout defending at both ends kept the score down to 1-1. Thomas saved well from Richard Langford and Prentice saved well from Lee Prichard’s solo run down the left as he slid out to take the ball of his toe. It was Prentice again who brought off a brilliant save to deny Pritchard.