TOOLSTATION LEAGUE FIRST DIVISION: Almondsbury UWE 0 Westbury United 0 (From This Is Wiltshire)

WESTBURY United's trip to Almondsbury UWE had 0-0 written all over it from the moment home goalkeeper Chris Coles saved Mark Young’s penalty kick in the 14th minute.

Besides that chance, Westbury had very few opportunities to score, while their own goalkeeper Lewis Porter made a few good saves when the Almonds stepped up the pace late on.

Both teams coped well with a partly muddy pitch and a dour opening to the match was brought to life when Nathan Hallett burst into the box and was fouled by Chris Church.

Young stepped up to take the spot kick but Coles moved smartly to his left to make the save.

UWE thought they had scored on 22 minutes when Jordan Conner’s corner led to a scramble, with James Fitzpatrick nudging the ball towards the line where it was blocked by a United defender - the referee consulted his assistant who said it hadn’t gone in.

Porter did well to parry a Conner shot after he had been set up by Jordan Rogers and at the other end, Hallett ghosted past several defenders before being denied at the end of his run.

Both sides went close early in the second half.

Paul Beavers broke forward to fire a 25-yarder wide after a good move between Young and Beau Blakeman then Rogers showed clever skill to cut in from the left before finishing weakly straight at Porter.

Play became increasingly scrappy until Almondsbury made a few attacking substitutions around the 70th minute.

Simon McElroy came on and met a Conner corner, which forced Ryan Baggs to clear off the line before fellow substitute Adam Saunders’ rebound hit one of his team mates.

Rogers then came within inches of scoring twice in quick succession but both efforts were wide of Porter’s left hand post.

Westbury counter-attacked with pace and a fast passing move involving Luke Stanley, Blakeman and Baggs created an opening with Baggs’ low cross eluding everyone.

Joe Kirkpatrick then played the ball back in and Blakeman headed wide.

UWE had the final chances of note on 76 minutes when Porter came to the fore to keep a clean sheet.

McElroy got in one-on-one and his strike was tipped wide by Porter with the resulting corner kick finding Rogers, whose powerful header was excellently saved.

Sam Gooding's side host Cribbs Friends Life on Tuesday evening.

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