FECKENHAM joint assistant manager Tom Davies was satisfied with a point from Saturday’s entertaining 2-2 draw at fourth-placed Northfield Town, but knows victory is crucial at Montpellier on Saturday if the Millers are to maintain strong hopes of a top-two finish.
Sixth-placed Feckenham will head to Studley FC for the fixture trailing their third-placed hosts by seven points with a game in hand, so the importance of the Midland League Division Two game is clear.
Second-placed Hampton are ten points above Feckenham but the Millers – who have 12 league matches remaining – have five games in hand on the Solihull-based side.
Against Northfield, the Millers took a 32nd-minute lead when they broke with pace and precision through Umit Eminoglu who found Danny Murphy who raced clear and squared for Matt Green to tap home.
Chances continued to come and go at both ends and it was almost 2-0 on the stroke of half-time when Jake Donnelly crashed a 35-yard strike against the underside of the bar.
The second half was not so good in quality but two goals in the final 20 minutes – including an 88th-minute header which was deemed to have crossed the line – appeared to have sealed the points for the hosts.
However, the visitors hit back to rescue a share of the spoils in stoppage time when a fine cross-field through ball from Haden Smith released Eminoglu who dinked his effort over the keeper to spark scenes of jubilation among the Feckenham ranks.
The Millers almost snatched maximum points at the death when Green’s shot was palmed out by the Town goalkeeper and Ben Welsh’s follow-up was superbly tipped over at point-blank range.
Davies said: “As expected, it was a tough game against Northfield Town with their new gaffer in charge also.
“We struggled early on to get our passing rhythm going but managed to frustrate Northfield for large periods of the game.
“A draw was a fair result overall, although it was us who nearly nicked it at the death.
“Another positive was young Dan Sutton’s inclusion. He got a substitute appearance against Pelsall a couple of months ago but has continued to impress playing for both our Reserves and U18s. At 16 years old Dan’s showing huge football promise and maturity.
“We now face Montpellier and we expect a tough encounter with places and points at a premium. We’re seeing five to six teams changing positions each week.”
Feckenham Reserves progressed into the last 16 of the RM Smith Cup thanks to a comprehensive 4-0 victory over South Redditch Athletic through goals from Dan Hopkins, Gabor Lengyel (2) and Ryan Moore.
Feckenham are also in action on Easter Monday (3pm) when they visit Fairfield Villa.
