Calne Town 1, Bideford 1 (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Calne Town 1, Bideford 1

4:55pm Thursday 16th March 2006 in Football

CALNE boss Robbie Lardner was brimming with pride after seeing his side more than match title favourites Bideford.

A second half equaliser from holding midfielder Danny Jones secured a well-earned point and, in the end, Calne were unlucky not to extend their winning streak to ten games.

Although the point was more valuable to Bideford in terms of the title race, boss Lardner was thrilled at how his team stood up to their opponents.

"It was a cracking match," he said. "They laid their stall out in the first ten minutes and they came at us.

"I wouldn't say we were in awe of them, but it took a quarter of an hour for us to get into the game.

"You could see a few of the lads were deflated at half time because we always felt it was going to be a tight match and we didn't want to be making mistakes.

"In the second half I was delighted. We came out positively and the game opened right up.

"We've had a penalty appeal, which I just can't believe wasn't given. It was one of the most blatant penalties I've ever seen.

"I was very proud of how we played and it just shows how far we've come as a team to put in a performance like that. We got our just rewards in the end.

"I wouldn't say it was flat in the dressing room afterwards, but we felt we did enough in the second half to win the game.

"We were pleased we got a point against a very good side, but I just felt we could have sneaked a win and it would have been a big three points for us.

"Their manager was quite happy with a point. He didn't know anything about our side and hopefully he went back to north Devon thinking we're a very handy outfit."

The visitors started the match strongly and forced Calne on to the back foot.

But after an edgy first 15 minutes, the home side began to impose themselves.

The first serious threat came after 35 minutes when Glenn Armstrong hooked a fine pass to James Lye and his strike from 35 yards fizzed just past the post.

Right on the stroke of half time, Bideford took the lead, as Robbie Gough pounced on a weak back header from Steve Casey before rounding Chris Astley to score.

Calne didn't let the goal affect them and they started the second half positively.

A neat passing move from Armstrong, Lye and Kevin Banks released Armstrong in on goal and, despite appearing to be scythed down, the referee dismissed the penalty appeal.

The home side eventually got their reward in the 76th minute, when Lardner flicked in Banks down the right and Jones smashed his cross in spectacularly.

Kenny Griffiths in the Bideford goal was then forced to tip Banks' chip onto the bar and he denied Armstrong in injury time, blocking the striker's low drive after Ben Moore played him in.

Calne host Hallen on Saturday, with Lardner targeting six points over the next two weeks before the return fixture with Bideford on April 4.

"The game this weekend and Frome the following week are two big games and we need to make sure we get maximum points," he said.

"We can't do any more than we're doing at the moment.

"We didn't have any visions of winning the league at the start of the season. We're very happy where we are and we've just got to finish the job off."