It was honours even at Kings Park as Leek Town were held to a 1-1 draw by Stone Old Alleynians in their penultimate pre-season friendly.
The hosts took the lead midway through the first half when player-manager Luke Askey rose highest to head home a Callum Woolrich corner, and it looked like the side from Meir Heath were going to take the win until Dan Trickett-Smith equalised with just 13 minutes left on the clock.
The Blues took control of the game early on when Trickett-Smith fired a close range free-kick over Andrew Wainwright’s goal after just eight minutes of play. He also put an effort over the crossbar on 20 minutes when he tried an effort from long range.
Ross Davidson also tried his luck from distance in the first half, but like Trickett-Smith, he was to put his effort over the crossbar.
Eventually, the hosts grew into the game with the talented Will Bailey allowed to run at the Leek defence before hitting a shot at goal, which was deflected out for a corner. From that corner, Askey rose highest to head home past Leek goalkeeper Sam Booth to open the scoring.
After that goal, it was all Leek as they pushed for an equaliser as Davidson stung the fingertips of Wainwright with an effort from the edge of the area. While just before the break, Lucas Baker broke the offside trap before crossing the ball to Tom Carr, who somehow managed to put the ball wide of the goal.
At the half-time break, Leek manager Neil Baker rang the changes as he brought off Alex Morris, Jack Tomlinson, Billy Reeves and Lucas Baker. They were replaced by Louis Keenan, Josh Ryder, Marc Grocott and Rob Stevenson. Bringing on Stevenson was a good move by Baker as he was a menace to the Stone defence as he constantly ran at them trying to force an equaliser.
Defender Olly Harrison isn’t normally a source of goals for the Blues. However, he nearly got on the scoresheet on 53 minutes when he was able to get onto the end of a Trickett-Smith corner. Unfortunately for him, he put his header over the crossbar.
After a much better performance in the second half, Leek finally equalised on 77 minutes when young midfielder Mason Pickering, who is part of the youth team at Leek Town, played the ball out to Keenan. The defender crossed the ball into the area for Trickett-Smith, who steered the ball past Wainwright to break Stone Old Alleynian’s resistance.
After the goal, the pace of the game slowed down with neither side being able to get any real attempts on goal to win the game. In the end, neither team deserved to win the game and as such a draw was probably the fairest result.
Leek Town will play their final pre-season friendly next Saturday against Nantwich Town at Harrison Park. Meanwhile, Stone Old Alleynians head to Cogenhoe United in the Emirates FA Cup before visiting Studley for their first game of the new Midlands Football League season.
After the game I caught up with Stone Old Alleynians player-manager Luke Askey, you can hear what he had to say.
I also caught up with Leek Town manager Neil Baker and you can hear his thoughts on the game.
