Dunstable Town hold promotion chasers to goalless draw

As was the case when they last met in November, there was nothing to separate the sides in front of a crowd of 120.

But given that Town sit 16th in the Spartan South Midlands League, Premier Division table and United are as high as third, Gareth Jackson’s Blues finished with plenty to be satisfied about, especially as they have now taken seven points from their last three games.

High winds made for tricky conditions, but the visitors had the first attempt when Dave Parkinson curled an effort wide from just outside the box.

With the breeze behind United, further opportunities saw Mahmut Caglar fire narrowly over the bar twice, first with a 25-yard free-kick and then from open play.

Town’s best chance of the first half came from a move instigated by Davide Pobbe, who progressed down the left before delivering a cross into the middle that Joe Hankins diverted goalwards, but goalkeeper Josh Mollison got his body behind it on the line.

The second half saw the Blues playing with the wind behind them, and when a deep cross evaded the crowd at the near post, Jack Harvey-Bailey was only able to sidefoot over the bar from close range.

Moments later, both sides were denied by the woodwork. First, Dan Blackman whipped in a free-kick, which was parried by Mollison into the path of Jake Kissiedu who, with the angle tight, hit the outside of a post.

Then, United counter-attacked and saw a low Murphy Culkin shot saved by Dan Gould, only for the ball to rebound into the path of Ryan Neufville, whose sidefooted shot struck the crossbar.

With 25 minutes left to play, Blackman hit a fierce free-kick narrowly wide of the mark before, at the other end of the pitch, Sam McClelland, who has impressed since joining from Crawley Green earlier in the season, deflected a cross just over his own goal.

Into the last ten, and both sides had decent chances to snatch all three points, the first being a real let-off for United as the woodwork was rattled again.

Substitute Cam Brooks found himself in space 30 yards out and, perhaps hoping to take advantage of the prevailing wind, struck a low shot that hit the inside of one post, darted along the goalline, came off the other post and bounced away to safety.

The visitors repiled when a late corner led to an impressive double-save by Gould to thwart both Charlie Clayton and Jack Thomas.