The main talking points of this fixture were two bizarre goals on a day where the conditions played a real part in deciding the outcome writes Russell Brown.

With heavy rain having swept the Church Street ground, the pitch was remarkably good, if a little on the heavy side as Chasetown looked to add to their already impressive Christmas points tally of six points from their earlier two festive games, as they faced up to a well drilled Rovers side who had already registered good wins over promotion chasing Stourbridge and Romulus.

New signing Scott Clamp retained his starting place due to the continued absence of the flu struck Ben Steane and the only change to the squad that defeated near neighbours Rushall on Boxing Day was the addition of former Willenhall Town defender Todd Perry to the bench.

After a quiet start, the Scholars were left chasing the game after they fell behind to a wickedly deflected effort from Garry Sippetts on 14 minutes. The midfielder saw his shot strike Chris Slater and loop right over the head of the stranded Lee Evans to give the visitors a real advantage.

Stunned by that, Chasetown immediately tried to hit back and Dean Perrow was only just off target with a measured shot after being set up by Mark Branch.

The striker then showed his versatility with a clever back heel that saw John Branch get in a telling cross, but the ball just would not settle in front of the incoming Kyle Perry and instead the striker had to lay it back for Mark Branch who fired his snap shot over the target.

The equaliser on 37 minutes will give Barton’s keeper Martin Patching nightmares for some time. There seemed very little danger as Nick Hawkins prepared to take a touchline hugging free kick wide on the left hand side of the pitch, but his delivery flew 35 yards to drift over the head of the bemused keeper to settle into the far corner of the net, much to the amusement and delight of the Scholars following.

After the break, Rovers employed a disciplined offside trap that worked far too well for the 448 strong crowd and even when Chasetown did spring the trap, the hard working Barton defence were on hand to get a vital touch to prevent the danger from going further.

A superb ball from Joe Williams saw skipper Chris Wild just get the faintest of touches to force Perry wide. The striker did manage to cut inside to make the shooting angle more favourable, but his final effort slammed into the side netting.

Craig Holland, who was determined to cover every inch of grass in an attempt to find a winner, came very close to doing just that when his shot on the run beat the diving Patching but just flashed wide of the far post.

In a rare Barton attack Tony Thorpe showed great close control to navigate past the seemingly impenetrable Chasetown defence to get in a shot from an acute angle, but Evans was right behind the effort.
Perrow twice got behind the visitors to get in tempting crosses and Holland was unlucky that the ball bobbled just in front of him as he shaped up for another shot. The ball striking the midfielders shin and flying high over the goal. From the second, Patching dove bravely at the feet of the on rushing Perry to take the ball at the second attempt.

A double substitution of both strikers did not have time to realise any reward for manager Charlie Blakemore as the game was brought to an abrupt end after just ninety seconds of injury time leaving Chasetown to go into their New Years Day fixture at home to Stourport Swifts on Tuesday afternoon one place better off in the league and hovering just outside the play off zone with those games in hand.

Chasetown: Evans, J Branch (Spacey), M Branch, Slater, Thomas, Williams, Clamp, Hawkins, K Perry (Edwards), Perrow (D Smith), Holland

Other Subs: T Perry, Woodvine (not used)