MINEHEAD were held to a 1-1 away draw by a strenthened Keynsham Town Reserves in the first division of the Uhlsport Somerset County League.

With captain Stefan Phillips and consistent goal scorer Guy Burns missing, manager Craig Carr included Alcombe Rovers’ striker Nathan Collins for his first Minehead appearance since September 2020.

Starting on the front foot Minehead forced an early corner which Matty Ronan swung in right into the danger zone where Collins met the ball well, but his header was a fraction over the bar for what would have been a dream start, and in the next attack a shot from Toby Waghorn went just over the bar.

But Keynsham, who had lost 8-1 at Minehead a month ago, were naturally looking to set the record straight and with their first team without a Western League game, they were able to include their top scorer George Stevens in their starting line-up. It took a great right-handed save from Minehead keeper Greg Turner to stop Stevens from rounding him.

With the game moving from end to end, Bertie Harvey-Larmar, playing an elevated role in midfield, thundered in a speculative shot from 35 yards which went just over the bar. A perfect Louis Burge through ball then put Waghorn through on goal, but a late and somewhat questionable offside flag put paid to the opening.

A good shot from the target man Collins was well saved by Keynsham keeper James Bunton, but the spinning ball then bounced back towards the goal and over the recovering keeper, but a desperate defender got there just before Collins could, to clear the obvious danger, conceding a corner.

Moments later it was Minehead’s goal in danger again, with Turner doing well again to push a header from centre forward James Shrimpton over the bar for a corner.

Minehead slowly grew into the game with some good spells of possession, and a quick move towards the latter stages of the first half saw Collins supply Ronan whose shot from distance was just over.

Starting the second half well, with quick incisive attacks Minehead applied more pressure on their hosts, and a long-range free kick from Ronan needed a desperate header off the line by a defender to keep the score even.

The opener came in the 67th minute when another pass supplied by Ronan enabled Collins to run through the heart of the home defence and from 15 yards out his low shot went through the approaching keepers’ legs and nestled in the back of the net.

The game now became noticeably more frenetic as Keynsham responded, including two substitutions, and they were almost back on terms when one of them, Ted Keegan, almost scored with his first involvement, but Turner expertly blocked his one-on-one shot with his legs.

In the sixth minute of injury time, it was a stunning goal from Jed Tregidgo, who had been a noticeable player driving their midfield, which rescued a point for the hosts.

A goal kick from Turner, resulted in the ball bouncing towards Tregidgo, well inside his own half on the far left wing, from where he controlled the ball in his stride, then immediately launched a shot from around sixty yards from the far post, which arrowed straight into the top corner of the inside the post - a splendid goal.

Man of the Match: Andy Hall.