By Match report: Late equaliser denies Cleethorpes Town victory at Carlton
Cleethorpes Town were denied a fourth win on the bounce following a late Carlton Town equaliser on Saturday afternoon.
Dec Howe grabbed the opener for the Owls, before Bradley Wells salvaged a point for the hosts in the 1-1 draw, in which both sides ended the game with 10 men.
Clee’s interim boss Jon Davy made a couple of changes to the starting lineup that beat Long Eaten in midweek, with Josh Venney replacing the recently departed Derry Robson and Curtis Bateson coming in for Brody Robertson.
There was a decent following in Nottinghamshire from the East coast, with the weather turning rather pleasant by kick-off after some rain earlier on in the day.
The Owls got off to a positive start, as Topliss and Bateson combined well down the right to create some problems for the Millers’ backline. Defender Tim Lowe also headed wide from a Will Annan corner.
But the best of the opening exchanges fell to Aaron O’Connor. After being put through on goal by Kyle Dixon, the striker was expertly denied by the foot of Tom Jackson.
Bateson thought he’d registered the opener for Clee in the 32nd minute after rifling in a drive from the inside-right channel, but the attacker was denied by the assistant’s flag.
With half-time looming, Jack McMenemy was inches away from getting on the end of Bateson’s teasing ball into the box and the sides went in level at the break.
The visitors continued to press forward in the second half as they went in pursuit of a big three points on the road.
McMenemy went close to heading an effort on target, before then charging down a clearance by keeper Mikey Emery that flew just wide of the post moments later.
With time waring, it looked increasingly likely that one goal could prove decisive and Clee managed to take the lead with nine minutes left to play.
A switch of play allowed Jon Oglesby to run at the defence and the winger’s delivery from the left was superbly flicked into the net by Howe to put his side in poll position.
That joy was short-lived for the division’s top-scorer, though, as he saw red just minutes later.
Watson appeared to grab Venney by the throat and, as the players came together, Howe received his marching orders for an alleged retaliation on the Carlton striker, who was also sent off.
With both sides down to 10 men, the incident appeared to give the Millers a lift heading into the latter stages of the game.
In injury-time, substitute Bradley Wells scored at the third attempt to earn a late point for his side after previously seeing a shot hit the post and another well-saved by Jackson.
The point leaves Clee third in the table and they will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they host Shildon at home next Saturday.
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