Saturday 11th March 1972
THE HAUNTING OF PADDY COBURN
NORTHWOOD 0 BARNES 0
Northwood striker Paddy Coburn will long be haunted by the grand scoring opportunity he missed in this Middlesex League encounter on Saturday.
Striving for every point at this stage of the season, Northwood, the competition leaders, were expected to dispose of lowly Barnes without too much trouble.
Barnes were putting up a rare old fight, but shortly before the interval Coburn looked certain to score when he rounded the keeper and nudged the ball towards the open goal.
Coburn turned away but then to the astonishment of all, the ball struck the inside of the post, rolled along the line and was cleared.
Heartened by this stroke of good fortune, Barnes continued to play magnificently to hold Northwood to a goalless draw. Northwood’s greatest asset this season has been the tremendous form of their three strikers, Barry Wanless, Coburn and Steve Senior, who between them have scored a mighty total of 80 goals.
However, the situations never quite flowed Northwood’s way on Saturday and Barnes, striving to gain the necessary points to prevent having to apply for re-election, battled on for a deserved draw.
Barnes threw up a defensive screen right from the outset and soon Northwood were mounting a series of concerted attacks.
Northwood held the stage in midfield and the few Barnes visits into Northwood territory were easily dealt with.
In their keenness to score Northwood seemed to have too many players near the Barnes goal, and on one occasion Barnes streaked through one of the many gaps and only smart work by keeper Byrne kept them out.
Finally, Wanless seemed to have scored but the ball lodged between a defender’s legs on the line and was scrambled away.
Northwood: R. Byrne, G. Harding, J. Myers, B. Gould, B. Taylor, W. Burt, I. Harvey, S. Pearce, S. Senior, B. Wanless. P. Coburn.
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