Ransomes Sports were forced to settle for a draw at Sidegate Avenue after Neil Calver and Callum Meadows put the home side two goals in front before AFC Kesgrave struck back twice to earn the visitors a point.
AFC Kesgrave opened the game with a high energy performance to which Ransomes responded with a show of attacking intent, aided by the wind advantage. On 9 minutes, Jack Severy sent a brilliant left-foot free kick into the box from wide right. Neil Calver moved towards the cross, eluded his marker, and squeezed a glanced header inside the far post from 10 yards.
Three minutes after that restart it got even better for Ransomes. Jack Severy, with that devilish left-foot sent in an awkward in-swinging corner that Kesgrave failed to deal with effectively, and Callum Meadows was on hand to smash home the loose ball to maintain his recent goal scoring streak.
It appeared to be going straightforwardly for Ransomes, but only a minute later came a sudden warning of what was to come. Richardson (Kesgrave), easily dispossessed a Ransomes defender for a clear run at goal but, lacking in composure, he thrashed his shot wide with only keeper Harley Rush to beat.
The best way to describe the game from this point onwards is to compare it to the twists and turns of a rollercoaster. But even that doesn’t quite feel like it captures the insanity of this match. Ransomes descended from a position of relative comfort to one of collapse in terms of the final 2-2 outcome, but that wasn’t half the story.
Ransomes weren’t fully comfortable as the game wore on but they at least looked well-placed to take away the win. Defending has been Ransomes consistent strength over the past few weeks but then came that lurching twist of errors that led to Richardson reducing the deficit for the visitors on 22 minutes.
The blue touch paper was lit and the tempo was set as Ransomes responded twice in quick succession with the pace of Mo Fike posing danger for Kesgrave, but his finishing touch remained absent.
Ransomes were forced into two changes at the interval and it appeared as early as the 46th minute another goal was never far away as Noon saved with his legs to deny Yani Duka, and five minutes later, the keeper bravely blocked to keep out Duka again following an error in the visitor’s defence.
There was to be a sting in the tail for those missed opportunities by Ransomes. AFC Kesgrave were to profit from another piece of naive defending by Ransomes as Chatterton pick-pocketed the ball to race clear and on the angle, he fired past Harley Rush into the far corner to level the match. There was now a clear shift in momentum in favour of the visitors and Harley Rush was forced to push over to enure parity remained. At the other end, Yani Duka rattled the crossbar and then Noon did brilliantly to turn aside Jack Randall’s drive before once again denying Yani Duka with his legs.
With Ransomes failure to make the most of their chances, the visiting team sensed they could snatch more than a point from this game and they should have had a third when Chatterton raced through for a one-on-one contest that stand-in keeper Harley Rush won.
Still no one could call the outcome of this game, and there was one final moment on this ride, one more loop the loop. A penetrating Mo Fike run and shot beat the keeper only for the tension to continue as a recovering defender launched himself into a sliding clearance to frustrate the Ransomes striker. It was a timely piece of defending as 88 minutes were on the clock.
Both teams had good opportunities to take all three points in this topsy-turvy encounter but at the final whistle, there was nothing to split the two sides as the game ended level.
Given the impressive strides Ransomes have made in the past six weeks, the only dampener is to be 2-0 up and draw. It is disappointing, but in the long run, this will hopefully be beneficial as the players worked hard, applied themselves in difficult conditions and above all, they showed great spirit and character, and still remain positive.