Soham Bring Season To A Close With Draw

SOHAM Town Rangers brought their debut season in the Southern League to a close at the weekend with a 1-1 draw at Woodford United.

A Scott Carter goal with less than twenty minutes left was enough to secure Ian Benjamin's men a point and fifteenth position overall in the league whilst also consigning Woodford to relegation.

The hosts came into the game in pressing need of a victory to help them secure their step four status, and their attacking threat early on was indicative of this desire as they launched a number of early attacks.

United's Craig Pearman had the best chance early on as he fired wide following a menacingly delivered long-throw from Neil Stacey. Woodford's assault was unrelenting in the opening minutes and they were rewarded after 20 minutes when Aaron Parkinson headed home.

The home side exerted a great deal of energy into securing the breakthrough and become somewhat subdued for the remainder of the half as they sought to hold their lead. A shrinking Woodford side allowed Soham to grow into the game and they soon began to forge openings of their own with Aaron Turner seeing his shot well saved minutes short of half-time.

Soham continued to forge forward in the second half but they were almost undone just after the hour mark when the hosts were awarded a crucial penalty. Ominously for United though, Lea Jordan denied Jason Ramsey's effort to keep the deficit to one.

The miss was a seminal moment in the game and, just 10 minutes later, the home side had gone from potential survival to certain relegation as Scott Carter slotted home on the turn following goof work from the returning Shawn Richards.

Woodford inevitably discarded all caution in the latter stages as they stared relegation in the face, but their incessant attacks proved fruitless as Soham held firm for the point to finish their last two games of the season undefeated.