PNS went a point clear at the top of the league last night, despite the disappointment of a 2nd draw of the season against an energetic and lively Wootton Blue Cross and being forced to play for over an hour with 10 men.

With Tom Moran and Scott Woods unavailable, Dave Kilby & Paul Hill came into the side in the only changes from Saturday’s win at Rushden & Higham with Eddie Patten returning to the squad and a place on the bench.

The opening exchanges saw PNS playing neat football and enjoying the majority of possession and territory without threatening the goal until the visitors were pulled up for keeper Nathan Kidd picking up a back pass on the penalty spot after a quarter of an hour. Paul Hill blasted the free kick into the wall and then headed narrowly over from the subsequent corner.

3 minutes later Ryan Francis volleyed in a Ronnie Fortune cross, but his celebration was cut short by a correctly applied offside flag. The games pivotal moment came on 23 minutes when home striker Karl Gibbs was sent off for an off the ball stamp on a grounded Wootton player, missed by pretty much everyone in the ground.

Unfortunately referee Adrian Johnson had sent reserve team skipper Carl Harper off in the first half of the County Cup semi-final on his last visit to PNS and was not the most popular man in the world for the Chestnut Avenue faithful (who overlooked the highly contentious penalty given to PNS in the November game against Olney by the same man!)

Some of the home side allowed the style adopted by the referee to frustrate them unduly and Paul Hill, Ali Nyang and Chris Garwell all picked up needless cautions during the course of the game.

Despite their numerical advantage, Wootton seemed content to carry on playing on the break and PNS continued to have the better of proceedings. A Fortune cross on 31 minutes was almost forced over the line by Mark Baines and on the stroke of half time, Francis was just beaten to the ball by Kidd when sent clear by a Baines pass.

The 2nd half started pretty much the same way and good interplay between Baines and Francis ended with a shot from 20 yards from Fortune that was turned around the post by Kidd.

As the 2nd half wore on, Wootton began to grow in belief. Skipper and central midfielder Jon Hogget was an impressive marauding figure (despite a high personal foul count!) and the visitors began to carve out chances as the half wore on. Gary Jones blazed a great opportunity wildly over on 68 minutes and a minute later Michael Peters slid in at the far post but just failed to make a solid connection.

PNS responded by withdrawing the tiring Fortune & Nyang and replacing them with Chris Garwell and Ian Edge and PNS gained some fresh impetus in what was becoming an increasingly stretched game. With 3 minutes left to play, PNS missed their best chance for a goal when Edge sent Baines clear but he seemed to struggle to get the ball out of his feet and shot tamely at Kidd. Baines was then felled right on the edge of the area in stoppage time but Garwell’s shot was unable to get through the massed Wootton wall.

With Eynesbury scoring twice in injury time to defeat rock bottom Burton Park this was not a great night for PNS who no longer have the destiny of the title in their own hands and will need to pick themselves up for the local derby with Huntingdon Town in 10 days time.