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Halesowen Town 2-1 Chippenham Town.

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IT'S ALL OVER. Final score. Halesowen 2-1 Chippenham Town. The Bluebirds players sink to their knees. They are drained and beaten. The trip back to Wiltshire is not going to be a happy one. They have given it their all over the last nine months but they suffer more play-off agony.

Glorious chance! 21:30 Gullick works some space and his cross finds Ollie Price unmarked at the far post. The goal is at his mercy but he hits his volley straight at Osborn.

You usaully only get one decent chance to get back in the game. That could have been it.

GOAL! AND WHAT A GOAL. Halesowen 2-1 Chippenham. 21:28 Eldon Maquemba scores a beauty. The striker cut in from the left and unleashed an unstoppable drive from 25-yard which flew into the net via a post. Snoddy had no chance and now you have to say it's Halesowen's to lose.

After kicking off the second half late, there is ten minutes for the Bluebirds to salvage their season.

GOAL! Halesowen 1-1 Chippenham Penalty! 20:16 Maquemba breaks away and Ross Adams brings him down. The defender is sent off and Dean Brennan finally gets his goal, blasting the ball to Snoddy's right.

It's going to be an uphill struggle now. Metitiri has come on for Pratt in a reshuffle by Adie Mings.

GOAL! Halesowen 0-1 Chippenham. 21:13. Sam Allison scores from six yards after Pratt centres from the byline. Pandimonium from the Chippenham players and fans. Everyone apart from Snoddy and McEntegart runs to the scorer.

The goal had been coming. It has the feel of a game Halesowen will live to rue. Allison's goal was the first clear chance for the hosts.

For the cameras. 21:05. Snoddy dives full length to save Caskey's free kick, an easy save in the end though. McEntegart is leading a charmed life after an early booking and two fouls.

Sam Allison has replaced the tiring Scott Lye and takes up position on the right wing.

We're back. 20:50. And it's the same story as Halesowen look to attack. Maquemba gets down the right, cuts back to Hall, but his 16-yard effort clears the bar. A great chance and are the hosts going to rue the misses?

Half time: Halesowen 0-0 Chippenham. Chances squandered by the hosts. Me thinks the Bluebirds will be happy to go in level at half time. They need to up the tempo and get the ball on the deck. Gullick and Pratt are getting less change from Pierpoint and Pearce than a busker playing The Macarena.

Twinkle toes. 20:35. Maquemba ghosts past Adams and Price to fire wide and then Brennan fires across the face of goal 30 seconds later.

Good challenge. 20:29 Halliday blocks Brennan's close range shot. The Yeltz have had the better chances but haven't made them count.

Handbags. 2028. The tension could be getting to Halseowen. Caskey and Hall have a bit of a to-do on the by line.

It went something like this: Caskey: "Excuse me but could you please get down the wing and cross the ball?"

Hall: "Sorry old chap. I'll do my job next time."

Or at least I think that's what they said.

Substitution 20:24 A bit of a niggily game but all accounts. Hicks is down after McEntegart caught him - the stretcher boys are on.

There is always a bright side to everything. One of the St John's Ambulance men tending to Hicks is abut 80-years-old. He's only just made it across the pitch. I wouldn't want him carrying me off.

Hicks is replaced by Anya.

Over! 20:17 Pratt heads over Holly's corner. Chances are starting to flow, although neither team are in the ascendancy.

Save! 20:15 Maquemba's lay off to Hicks and Snoddy saves his powerful drive. Pearce then sees his header from the resulting corner cleared off the line by Holly. (This time not with his arm.)

Calm down, calm down. 20:11 Neither team has settled yet and it's all a bit rushed. The long ball is the favoured weapon of choice.

The ironic thing is, both sides were passing the ball better on the water-sodden surface of Tuesday night.

Offside! 20:09. Brennan has the ball in the net after a cool volley but is pulled back for offside.

Awful miss! 20:01. McEntegart misjudges a long ball and Brennan is clean through but can only blast his half volley five yards wide.

The chance of the game and he could been having sleepless nights if Halesowen lose.

Wide. 19:57 Holly and Maquemba bump into each other 20-yard out and the decision goes the hosts' way. Brennan curls the free kick wide. The Grove just isn't the same without the rain but at least we still have the same comedy ref.

Assertive Mr Martin. 19:54. The referee has set his stall out and booked Dean Brennan for dissent. After his nightmare on Tuesday he wants everyone to know he is in charge. As he looks like he's 15-years-old it's going to be hard.

Save! 19:51. Gullick forces Osborn to tip his 20-yard shot over and from Holly's resulting corner Adams heads wide.

Boring. 19:49. We'd had two goals by this time on Tuesday. It's rubbish. McEntegart crunches Denny 25-yards out and Caskey's freekick drifts well over.

Back in The Groove. 19:45. See what I did there? Well, I thought it was witty. The players are out, the rain has held off and we could be in for a full game at The Grove. Chippenham kick us off.

Sitting comfortably. 19:30. Maybe the seats at The Grove are not that great. Some chap infront of the press box has brought a couple of cushions along. Each to their own.

Team news. 1915. The Bluebirds are unchanged from Tuesday. - manager Adie Mings obviously saw enough in the washout. Halesowen make one change with Rodney Hicks in for Ikechi Anya.

Chippenham Town: Snoddy, Adams, Halliday, Price, McEntegart, Harvey (c), Lye (Allison, 59), Holly, Pratt (63, Metitiri), Cornwall (Seavill, 86), Gullick. SUBS: Seavill, Allison, Badman, Metitiri, Car.

Halesowen Town: Osborn, Cowley, Hamilton, Pierpoint, Denny, Hall, Caskey (c), Brennan, Maquemba, Hicks (Anya, 39). SUBS: Abbey, Anya, Waite, Maynard, Dormand.

Back again. 19:10. The Bluebirds players and fans arrive. Unsurprisingly the players come out to inspect the pitch. It's looking alright - much better than Tuesday. There's also some sunshine.

Honesty is the best policy? 19:00 Kye Holly: "I should have gone but I didn't mean to do it. It was a reaction and I only got a slight touch, although it was possibly my best save ever."

Fair play to Holly for owning up but the word at The Grove is he is in for a fair bit of stick for his 'aberration' in the third minute on Tuesday. He should have seen red for his handball on the line by the referee failed to pick him out of the crowd.

Weather watch. 18:15. It has stopped raining! That little dance I did must have worked. The cloud is still lurking overhead and we're probably in for more showers at The Grove though. The pitch passed a 3:45pm inspection so the club are obviously confident.

Fighting talk. 18:09. "We would have won Tuesday's comfortably. Everyone's attitude was spot on and everyone had desire and the passion to win the game," said David Pratt.

Thats the spirit from the Bluebirds' top scorer. He is supremely confident about tonight, and why not? The visitors certainly caused Halesowen problems in the 32 minutes.

Ref watch. 17:57 It's the same officials from Tuesday's game and they've just arrived. Do you think referee R J Martin has realised it was Kye Holly's handball on the line on Tuesday? Probably not.

The play-offs: The build up. Weather watch. It has just started raining in Halesowen. There is a rather large cloud which just seems to sit over the town. Blue sky everywhere else.

Lets just hope this game goes ahead after Tuesday's washout.

5:47pm Thursday 1st May 2008

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