The Salts ended the year with a hard-earned 2–2 draw against local rivals Corinthian Casuals, having trailed 0–2 at half-time in front of our best home crowd of the season, a very healthy 242. On the face of it, a decent result after conceding in the second minute, but Casuals were eventually reduced to nine men before Nazareth was also sent off, making it 10 v 9 for the closing stages.

That makes six occasions this season where we’ve had a man advantage and managed only two draws — both after going 0–2 down — something we clearly need to improve. We were again forced into changes due to injury, suspension and the unavailability of our number one goalkeeper, Sami Nabbad. Obasanjo Akinniranye and Karl Bailey came in up front for the injured Jason Bloor and suspended Tyler Robinson, while Ben Grummitt returned between the posts. Antonios Nazareth also came back from suspension, replacing Che Bell in defence.

We chose to use the hill in the first half, kicking away from the turnstile end, but the opening moments proved costly. A long throw from Casuals’ Hakeem Adelakun was launched into our six-yard box, missed by Grummitt, and Andre Coker scrambled the ball in at the far post to give the visitors the lead. A few minutes later, another long ball nearly doubled the advantage, with Coker’s lob drifting just over the bar. The game settled, but we struggled to seriously test Baek in the Casuals goal. On 35 minutes, a corner from the left again caused problems and Arsenii Protsyshyn powered home a free header to make it 0–2. Despite some good running from Oba, we went in at the break looking short of ideas.

We pressed from the start of the second half and were handed a lifeline in the 51st minute when Casuals substitute Edward McCrea was sent off for bringing down Oba as the last man. Six minutes later, we pulled one back when Craig Dundas delivered an excellent cross and Nazareth timed his run perfectly to head home from close range. The game became increasingly niggly and, on 71 minutes, Coker received a second yellow card to leave Casuals with nine men. However, Nazareth soon followed him after picking up a second booking, bringing it back to 10 v 9.

We continued to push and eventually found a deserved equaliser in stoppage time when a Ryley Merrett free kick wasn’t cleared and Stefan Aiwone fired home on the turn. After seven tense minutes of injury time, we held on for a draw that keeps us 13th in the table.