Lewis stunner earns Waders a point against Chippenham

Fantastic teamwork against the Southern League Premier’s third placed side earned its rewards with a late leveller from Callum Lewis.

Waders went ahead in the third minute of the game when they were awarded a penalty for handball by Dan Bowman. Inih Effiong fired home the spot kick.

Chippenham set about repairing the damage with flowing football and the main threat came down the wing in Alex Ferguson. He was the player the chances fell to but with keeper Ian Brown and the defence of compatriots Lewis, Perry, Hoyte and Short putting their bodies on the line they kept the visitors at bay.

An incident of ‘handbags’ just before the break saw Tony Burnett and Chippenham’s Greg Tindle both dismissed making it ten a side for the second period.

The rain became even more persistant with the pitch getting slippy and starting to cut up.

Waders worked well on the break and with Effiong breaking down the left, he was felled by the keeper and a second penalty was awarded. However this time the Chippenham keeper guessed right and palmed the ball away.

Chippenham steamrollered forward and something had to give. On 71 minutes David Pratt slipped his marker and his shot across Brown crossed the line from a very tight angle.

Two minutes later Andy Sandell doubled their score with a simple tap in when the Waders failed, for the first time in the match, to clear their lines.

With an exhausted Effiong taken off his replacement Connor Vincent carried on with harrassing the home defence. Robbie Parker, making a welcome return, looked energetic as the Waders pressed forward but created little in clean chances.

With time running down, Craig Daniel square passed into Callum Lewis in acres of space. The advice from the bench was not to shoot - but Lewis ignored it and his effort from 35 yards looped over the surprised keeper for the equaliser.

Biggleswade’s match against Stratford on Tuesday was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. They host Chesham United on Saturday.