Scourfield's timely equaliser (From Western Telegraph)

Scourfield's timely equaliser

Pembrokeshire Football League Division One PENNAR ROBINS 1 MONKTON SWIFTS 1

PENNAR Robins' Daniel Scourfield grabbed a dramatic equaliser just three minutes from time to cruelly deny the champions all three points at Bush Camp, writes Gordon Thomas.

In their earlier derby encounter the Swifts won by a solitary goal, and for much of this clash it looked as though it would finish the same way.

But the home side stuck to their guns and they were rewarded for finishing strongly.

Wayne Brunton made a telling run down the wing and his accurate cross from the right found Scourfield in the box.

He wasted very little time in drilling his first time shot home via the near post.

The champions have just five games to play in their run in to defend their title, and this blip will encourage the chasing pack despite the Swifts being four points clear at the top of the table.

The Swifts got off to a dream start after Paul Lowe's header from a corner was turned into his own net by luckless Robins' defender Daniel Nicholas.

The Robins were disrupted after 30 minutes when they lost gritty midfielder Andrew Green with a cut to his head and he was replaced by James Probert.

Stephen Davies, Paul Lowe and Marcus Taylor all spurned golden opportunities for the Swifts to extend their lead.

Despite their territorial advantage the Swifts failed miserably to score any further goals which will not have pleased their tough manager Benno Jones.

When any side is holding onto just a slender one goal advantage then they are always susceptible to being hit by a sucker punch, and that's exactly what happened to the nervous looking champions.

The longer this tough derby tussle went on, the more the Robins believed they could get something from it.

They got their just rewards when Scourfield's very timely equaliser left the champions' contingent feeling totally numb come the final blow of referee Brian Hawkins' whistle.

PENNAR ROBINS: Stuart James, Ben Nicholas, Daniel Nicholas, Jamie Callan, Niall O'Connor, Richard Hughes, Nathan Hughes, Andrew Green, Daniel Scourfield, Wayne Brunton, Richard Scourfield. SUBS: James Probert, Leeroy Thomas, Marcus Lyons.

MONKTON SWIFTS: Craig Reardon, Daniel Hart, Chris Manning, Paul Jarvis, Ben Jones, Lee Jones, Dean Busby, Dai Patterson, Stephen Davies, Marcus Taylor, Paul Lowe. SUBS: David Day, Richard Jones, Barry Dilworth. REFEREE: Brian Hawkins.