After overcoming the Blues 4-2 earlier in January Chasetown managed to get four different scorers that day, but manager Charlie Blakemore would have settled for just one of his players to find the net on a bitterly cold Easter Saturday writes Russell Brown.

The first half was a dour affair with Chasetown initially finding it difficult to get out of their own half as their visitors determined start, along with a strong wind, penned the Scholars in. When they did manage to make some inroads into the Dunstable third of the field, defences were on top as Phil Harris tried to find Dean Perrow only for Stuart Deaton to cut out the dangerous cross.

The first real threat on goal came from a sliced clearance from Leigh Harrington that looped towards goal, but Paul Taylor managed to scramble back to his goal line to collect the wayward ball beneath his crossbar.
A forgettable first period was replaced by a cut and thrust second half with Chasetown finishing the stronger but unable to beat the impressive Taylor in the visitors goal.

Dunstable opened the brighter after the interval and Russell Preston will be cursing his miss kick in front of goal as the striker was left with too much room at the far post as Matthew Baldry’s cross had wrong footed the Chasetown defence.

Arron Flood’s dipping effort from the left had Lee Evans worried as the ball looked to be dropping over the keeper, but the chance cleared his left hand post with inches to spare.

With Danny Smith leading the charge on a tiring Dunstable side the striker did beat Taylor on one occasion only to see the ball strike the base of the post and bounce to safety and from his next effort Taylor gathered a low drive right on the goal line as Chasetown increased the pressure.

At the other end, Michael O’Neill’s free kick struck Nick Hawkins and Evans did well to readjust to tip the defected shot onto the crossbar.
Hawkins almost scored at the right end as his dipping shot, caught fully on the volley, brought a stunning one handed save from Taylor and the keeper gathered a fierce Smith drive at the second attempt as the home side drove forward in search of that vital breakthrough goal.
Harrington was fortunate to get away with a handball that was deemed to be just outside the area as the defender leant into a through ball from Harris, the resultant sent piece being curled wide of the target by Mark Branch.

New signing Marlon Walters was inches away from grabbing his first goal for the club as he smashed a Harris ball past the near post as his intelligent run had gained him the chance to shoot from an acute angle. But with further chances from Smith and Perrow going straight to the well positioned Taylor, both sides had to settle for just one point.

Chasetown: Evans, Harris, M Branch, Spittle, Penny, Williams, Steane (J Branch), Walters, Smith, Perrow, Holland (Hawkins)

Other Subs: Ravenhill, Perry, Gordon (not used)