MARK Hawkes endured a frustrated return to Scraley Road as his Chelmsford City side were held to a 0-0 draw with Heybridge Swifts.
While the Clarets enjoyed much of the possession, Keith Wilson's Swifts battled hard, with keeper Danny Sambridge's performance deserving a clean sheet.
Swifts settled the quicker of the two sides, but it was Leon Redwood who got the first effort on target for Chelmsford. Five minutes in he was released down the left, but his fierce shot was well tipped over the bar by Danny Sambridge.
The Clarets managed to get a footing in the game, and pass it around nicely. However, they were unable to create a decent chance in the first 20 minutes, with a nice move ending with Lee Sawyer's cross easily claimed by Sambridge.
Swifts almost took the lead when a Mark Haines slip let Tom Holdstock through on goal. However, Marvin Ekpiteta recovered well to stifle the danger and clear for a corner.
Ten minutes later Steve Good made a fantastic sliding challenge to deny Luke Callander as he was bearing down on goal for the visitors. And from the following corner, Dave Collis threw his body in front of a Michael Cheek shot that was heading towards the bottom corner.
The Clarets began to build the pressure and Mark Hughes almost grabbed another pre-season goal, but his shot was well tipped round the post by Sambridge.
Another chance went begging for the visitors, when Glen Southam's dangerous free-kick was flicked on by Hughes. The ball found Cheek at the back post, but the former Swifts' man was unable to apply the finish.
Ten minutes into the second half, Southam had a glorious chance to get the opening goal when Sawyer slipped him through. However, the former Eastleigh man was only able to drag his shot wide.
Just after the hour mark Cheek then flashed a shot across the Heybridge goal, after Sawyer did well to drive towards the heart of the host's defence.
With 15 minutes to go, Sambridge made a fantastic double save to deny the Clarets. Firstly the ball fell to Hughes and the Swifts' keeper did brilliantly to deflect the ball wide. And then from the resulting corner, the stopper got down well to deny Christian Smith's shot from the edge of the box.
In the 81st minute, Swifts drew Nic Freund into his first save of the match. Reece Morgan curled an effort goal-bound, with the keeper – son of Tottenham legend Steffen – doing well to parry the ball away.
In the final two minutes, Callander then had the chance to win the game against his former side, but was once again denied by Sambridge. The Swifts' keeper pulled off a fantastic point-blank save and the final chance of the match came to nothing.
↧