Shepton and visitors Saltash United could not be separated over 90 minutes in their FA Cup Tie, and the tie will be decided at Saltash in a replay to see who travels to Willand in the next round. Shepton keeper Steve Phillips and his counterpart for Saltash, Tom Blackler had much to do with the blankety blank scoreline, as both made two or three good saves at key moments in the game to ensure that neither goal was breached.
The Cornish side started well and after 6 minutes their wide man Matt Cusack brought a save from Phillips after beating his opposition marker Dave Thorne for one of the few times over the 90 minutes. Soon afterwards his colleague Sam Farrant fizzed a dangerous ball across the face of Shepton's goal but with no end result, before Shepton then found their own attacking switch and created two of their best moves of the match in the space of a couple of minutes. Thorne fed James Billing who in turn set up Jordan Townsley for a shot on the turn that fetched a good stop from Blackler, before Townsley returned the compliment, this time setting up Billing who brought an even better save from Blackler, a defender then scrambling the ball away for a corner as Billing tried to get to the loose ball. Midway through the half Phillips saved a decent shot from 20 yards from Farrant, and five minutes before half time he made an even better save from Danny Zalick. The loose ball fell to Zalick's teammate Aaron Cusack, who luckily for Shepton hit his shot the wrong side of a post and into the side netting.
Just after the restart a Shepton corner was only partially cleared as far as Joe Morgan who headed goalwards with Blackler for once out of position, only for Saltash's
Cusack to head clear from under the crossbar. With each side working hard to shut down the other there were not too many other clear cut chances until midway through the half, when Phillips then made a tremendous point blank save from Farrant, after the dangerous Saltash frontman raced clear and bore down on goal. With 15 minutes to go, Liam Watson emulated Cusack as he headed the ball clear from under the Shepton crossbar following a Saltash corner. Shortly afterwards Townsley and Conrad Peck combined well to put Dave Stone away down Shepton's right, and Stone's ball into the middle was deflected away for a Shepton corner. The cross was not dealt with cleanly by the visitors defence, the ball dropping to Morgan who hit a shot goalwards only to then look on in anguish as a defender scrambled the ball away from the line. The clearance fell to Stone, but he shot too high from the edge of the area. The home side finished strongly but could not force a winner, as Townsley put a 25 yard free kick just wide before James Vincent forced a point blank stop from Blackler in stoppage time after good work from Peck put Vincent in on goal.
Though never a classic, this was a decent effort against well organised opposition. Injuries to Lee Davidson and Craig Loxton did not help the home cause, but defensively things are coming together, with only one goal conceded from open play in the last three matches (and the 2 pens) - Nick Hudson is getting fitter game by game, and Harry Paice had a great game in the middle alongside Nick for the first time.

Team

1. S.Phillips
2. D.Thorne
3. L.Davidson
4. H.Paice
5. N.Hudson
6. L.Watson....cautioned
7. C.Loxton
8. R.Mitchell
9. J.Billing
10.J.Townsley....cautioned
11. J.Morgan

subs used
C.Peck, D.Stone, J.Vincent