Lye 1 Corby 1 - Report
A LAST-DITCH leveller salvaged Lye Town a deserved share of the spoils – but there was debate over who completed the rescue mission.
Ben Billingham bent in a free-kick from the right flank which appeared to sail straight in through a host of bodies, although Ryan Bridgewater was credited with the deftest of touches to deceive keeper Tom Finch in the third minute of added time.
The Flyers had huffed and puffed without looking likely to blow down the house prior to that but will look back on having as many chances as the visitors on a day when neither side convinced in the final third – particularly at the death when Corby may have capitalised on an open finish.
Corby carried the greater threat on the break in a scrappy but fiercely competitive first half, often failing to find the required finesse in the final third.
Lye almost led in the 14th minute, Joe Palmer springing the offside trap down the left with his cross-shot played against the post by retreating Corby defender Michael Jacklin.
Jack Keeble powered through the crowd only to clear the bar from a floated Corby corner but the breakthrough was not far away, Toby Hilliard hitting the deck following a tussle for a high ball with Lye defender Adam Meacham.
Hilliard’s penalty was blocked by keeper Ben Newey but the striker was first to the rebound, bundling in before a swarm of bodies could intervene.
Lye picked up from there, Nathan Kabeya having a low drive across goal tipped around the far post by Tom Finch, the keeper who then raced from his line to charge down Demico Burton’s low finish towards an otherwise gaping net four minutes before the break.
Corby did the ugly stuff well after the interval and might have capitalised while Lye adjusted following a couple of substitutions on the hour, Connor Tomlinson laying off for Joe Butterworth to drive over from the edge of the box.
Palmer might have levelled from a deep cross but headed back across goal instead of towards the target and Lye’s main man later had a couple of scuffed shots blocked after good work from Burton and Matt Funge.
Two identical chances went begging for Lye in the final few minutes, Billingham thumping wide a near-post header from Funge’s cross before Funge nodded tamely at Finch when Maxwell Ngbeken turned provider.
Corby picked holes as Lye went for broke in added time and should have wrapped up the points only for Newey to charge out at the feet of Tomlinson with Jordan O’Brien unable to set himself properly for the rebound.
The visitors paid the price for that when Lye levelled seconds later but then might have snatched it five minutes past the 90, Tomlinson chasing a lost cause and cutting back for Tristan Thompson-Matthews who dallied, allowing Meacham to charge down his effort.
Flyers: Newey, Brookes, Burton (Tye, 73), Ibhadon (Funge, 59), Meacham, Bridgewater, Kabeya, Adegoke (Ngbeken, 59), Palmer, Billingham, Smith.
Unused subs: Hall, Storey.
Attendance: 171.
