Magpies impress but fail to find the net (18.10.05)

THE width of a post separated the Magpies from a deserved point in a sparkling football display at Bishops Stortford on Tuesday night.
Manager Carl Taylor selected an innovative 4-5-1 formation with Nathan Stamp and Ryan Parsons playing as old fashioned wingers on the right and left respectively.
It was Stortford though that was fastest out of the starting blocks, Richard Howell missing a header with the goal at his mercy within the first minute.
The Bishops scored what proved to be the winner in the fourth minute, a corner from the right by Alex Martin eluding virtually everybody apart from Rob Gillman who bundled the ball over the line off his shin.
United then set to work, wide men Stamp and Parsons ripping Stortford apart time and time again only for the attacks to fail due to the lack of men in the middle, Lee Newman ploughing a lonely furrow up front.
Perhaps their best chance in the first half came on 10 minutes when a cross along the line from Stamp was cut back to Matt Glynn who blasted over.
Bishops were restricted to long range efforts, Howell coming closest with a shot which took a wicked deflection and left Paul McCarthy scrambling to divert the ball around the post.
The second half saw United continue to press for an equalizer which looked to have arrived on 68 minutes when a Brendan Gallen corner from the right was headed goalward by Dominic White only for the ball to strike the base of the post.
Stortford hit the woodwork on 75 minutes when a long shot from Duane Jackman cannoned off the post, but the scoreline was to remain unchanged, United's night being summed up when a tantalizing cross from sub Abdul Saeed Osman sped across the six yard box with neither side getting a touch.