Radford 1-1 Carlton Town (Friendly) 17.07.21

Carlton Town drew 1-1 with Radford in a hard-fought pre-season friendly at Selhurst St.

Both goals came in a 60 second spell in the first half of a game played in sweltering conditions.  Radford will feel they had the better of the game overall, but Carlton were only denied victory thanks to a world-class save from Pheasants keeper Matthew Fowler in the closing minutes.

Fowler in fact started the game on the bench but came on after 15 minutes following injury to Radford’s starting keeper.  Fowler’s first action was to pick the ball out of the net after a tremendous Niall Davie strike from 25 yards on 18 minutes gave him no chance.

The home side were level less than a minute later, with a sharp move down the right finished off with a low strike by ex-Miller Callum Smith.

Jamie Thomas then headed against the post while Dan Brown had to clear another Radford effort off the line after Jack Steggles misjudged a through ball as the home side took control.

Steggles made a fine save from a Smith free kick early in the second half before the game settled into something of a stalemate in the searing heat.

The Millers though they’d won it with two minutes to go when some neat passing led to Tom Maddison hitting a lovely shot from 20 yards which was heading straight for the top corner until Fowler, from nowhere, flew across his goal and palmed the ball away.  It was a superb save and a fitting way to end a competitive encounter.

Carlton Town: Steggles, Sturgess (Johal 46), N Blake, Brown, Moore (Gorman 46), Holmes (Maddison 46), Davie, Matthews, T Blake, Watson, Thomas (Daft 46).

*Article provided by Sky Blue Miller.

*Main image @CT1904 next up for Carlton is a trip to Staveley MW.