Waders hold leaders to goalless draw

Rhys Hoenes' penalty is saved by Liam Gooch as Kettering Town were held to a 0-0 draw at Biggleswade Town. Picture by Peter Short

The visitors dominated proceedings at Langford Road, cheered on by a large following in the 350 strong crowd, but couldn’t find a way through.

And former Wader Rhys Hoenes saw his first half penalty saved by Liam Gooch who excelled in the Biggleswade goal.

Biggleswade did have a couple of first half chances, Connor Hall stinging the fingers of Jordan Wright with a fierce shot from 25 yards.

At the other end Gooch pulled off an excellent save, tipping a header over from a corner. Relentless Kettering pressure told midway through the half when Aaron O’Connor was brought down by Craig Daniel and a penalty was given.

However Hoenes, who led the Biggleswade line so effectively last season, fired a weak spot kick and Gooch was down quickly to push the ball away.

Waders started the second half quite brightly, George Bailey seeing one effort blocked, but as the game wore on it was the visitors who took control. However despite their domination there were relatively few clear cut chances for Gooch to deal with.

As the match entered time added on there were several scrambles in the Waders box but the hosts held on for a valuable point.

It was a satisfiying result at the end of a difficult period of fixtures that has seen the Waders take on three of the top four sides in the division, and the games at Kings Lynn and Slough ending in narrow defeats.

Waders are without a game this weekend but travel to Kemspton Rovers in the Beds Senior Cup on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in the Southern League, Arlesey Town did not play this week but return to action at Aylesbury United on Saturday.