TRAFFORD 0 HANLEY TOWN 0

Trafford squandered several gilt-edged second half chances and were held to a goal-less draw by Hanley Town in their NPL West Division clash at Shawe View on Saturday.

The hosts made a nervous start and Town striker Kieran Brown shot wide of the near post from 10 yards in the 7th minute.

Defences were on top for the remainder of the first half with the best chance falling to Town’s Louis Dodds in the 35th minute when his volley from 15 yards was tipped over by Brad Rose.

The second half began in a far more positive manner with Town vainly appealing for a penalty in the 51st minute for a trip on Brown and Trafford midfielder Alfie Belcher missing a great chance two minutes later when he fired against goalkeeper Adam Whitehouse from point blank range after fine work by Tom Bentham.

At the other end Kyle Blake failed to convert at the back post with the goal at his mercy and in the 59th minute home manager Danny Caldecott introduced substitute Astley Mulholland following a long lay-off due to injury.

Mulholland’s impact was immediate as he brought greater control to the midfield and allowed Trafford to push forward in search of the opening goal.

Bentham was unfortunate in the 66th minute when his surging run down the left ended with a shot that was deflected into the side-netting and three minutes later Trafford should have taken the lead when Rob Worrall played a great one-two with Bentham and then chipped the ball forwards to Mike Burke who shot wide of the near post from eight yards.

It wasn’t all one-way traffic, however, and after Mulholland had made a brave goal-saving block to thwart Blake, Louis Dodds flighted an audacious shot from fully 40 yards that flew just wide of the upright.

Danny Caldecott: “We deserved three points”

Speaking after the match, Danny Caldecott said: “Really disappointed we couldn’t get the three points we deserved in my opinion.

“The pluses are we kept a clean sheet after being too easy to score against in the previous two games.

“We are creating chances and id we continue to defend as a team then we will score goals.

“Football is about fine margins and at the minute we aren’t quite aligning our efforts at either end of the pitch, but we are confident it will happen soon.”

Trafford must now concentrate their efforts on collecting all three points at Mossley on Monday although their cause was not helped by injuries to both Jack Sloan and Max Hazeldine.