DEFENCES HOLD FIRM AT THE CASTLE

In a game of very few clear cut chances, defences were the winners as the visiting Grove kept their second clean sheet in three games while the O's drew a blank for the first time this campaign.

Oldland had reached the summit of the table with a win over Almondsbury on Saturday, a side that Hengrove had taken their solitary point of the season from. Manager Jamie Hillman was without Aaron Greatbanks in goal so in came Carl Bush for his first game of the season. Ellis McDonald was also missing & both Giorgio Mancini and James Hubbard took places on the bench so in came the trio of Gary Shorney, Jack Jones and Mickey Parsons.

The first half was a 45 minutes that won't live long in the memory although the O's could maybe count themselves fortunate to still have eleven men on the pitch after an O's defender appeared to stamp on striker Simon Knight after a tussle.

After the break, the game improved a little with Oldland sub Owen McCallum a livewire presence up front and going close with a left foot shot that whistled wide of the post. Knight volleyed at home keeper Matt Carter and Jones headed over from a Regan Burton cross as Grove showed they too were capable of fashioning chances for themselves.

In the dying moments of the game, Oldland pressure almost told but Bush produced the save of the match to deny a close range effort and even as the game ticked into a fourth minute of stoppage time, two corners from Hengrove offered brief hope that the visitors could record their first victory of the season. Alas they came to nothing, and the 19th placed side had to settle for a point away from home at the table topping O's.