Lancaster City 0 Trafford 0 (From Messenger Newspapers)

Lancaster City 0 Trafford 0

9:33am Wednesday 5th September 2012 in Trafford Sport

TRAFFORD stretched their unbeaten run to six games following a goalless draw at Lancaster on Tuesday night (Sept 4), a result that saw them slip into second place in the Evo Stik League Division One North table.

On a difficult, uneven surface Trafford struggled to string their passes together and almost fell behind in the first minute when home striker Tom Kilifin outpaced Nia Bayunu and struck the outside of the post.

Trafford’s cause was hindered by an injury to Simon Gallanders that saw him replaced by Billy Burgess in the 20th minute and two minutes later the visitors were grateful to keeper Tom Read for a fine save to thwart a 25 yard thunderbolt by Rob Wilson.

There was very little goalmouth action for the remainder of the first half although Wilson headed over seconds before the interval as Lancaster finished the stronger.

The second half was a similarly scrappy affair with Lancaster dominating but failing to penetrate a Trafford defence in which centre backs Nia Bayunu and Steve Mason were outstanding.

Nevertheless keeper Read was on hand to produce another excellent save in the 71st minute after Dave Swarbrick unleashed a low drive from the edge of the penalty area and then Lancaster centre back Danny Gregson headed onto the roof of the net following a free kick from the right.

In the 84th minute Trafford created their only clearcut chance of the game when Andy Smart swung over a corner from the right and Steve Mason just failed to connect from two yards.

In the final minute Lancaster pushed forward in search of the winner and Swarbrick struck a volley wide from 15 yards.

A disappointing encounter came to an end with Trafford thankful for a point from a game in which they never got going, but they can take heart from another fine defensive display that has now seen them concede just one goal from six matches.

On Saturday they will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they travel to play Runcorn Town in an FA Cup preliminary round tie.