FC Stratford and Droitwich Spa played out a tightly but fairly contested game with few goalscoring chances but plenty of good football on Tuesday evening at Stratford Town's Arden Garages Stadium.

It was the home side who controlled procedings almost from start to finish, with Droitwich not really able to get out of second gear despite having a man advantage for long spells.

Stratford had their first effort of the game as Sam Rodber's flicked header went narrowly over the cross-bar, and Spa replied a few minutes later when Cory Rudd's through ball found Alex Dugmore but home stopper Ethan Pheasey was alert and rushed out to get to the ball first, then he denied Perry Moss's strike.

Anthony Umoh tried a spectacular overhead effort which was off target, and from the Spa goal kick, the FC defender allowed Josh Hurdman to beat him only to bring the Droitwich winger down as he approached the penalty area.
The match official showed Umoh a straight red card and from the resulting Jack Brighton free kick, Pheasey fumbled the ball and Alex Dugmore picked up the pieces to fire in to the net through a wall of bodies to give The Saltmen the lead on 29 minutes.

The home side saw out the remainder of the half comfortably with the only chance of note being Jack Brighton's low drive that Pheasey held on to.

Stratford re-organised at the break and were able to control possession without creating any meaningful chances in the opening exchanges of the second half
Nathan Binner's 25-yard effort went over the bar on 59 minutes, then just 5 minutes later Cory Rudd was shown a second yellow for a cynical foul and it was 10 against 10!

The Bards began to turn the screw and a long range thunderbolt by Cian Evans rattled the crossbar, then Rogerson made a good save to save Jamie Sauntson's blushes.
Joe Sykes then squandered a fantastic opportunity to equalise with 15 minutes remaining as he put a close range header over, but the hosts got the equaliser that they deserved on 85 minutes when a long ball over the top beat Sauntson and Ralf Penton fired a low drive into Rogerson's bottom corner.

Jack Davies and Collins Tanor both tried their luck from range but were off target, then the Spa players and fans, who made up 75% of the 103 attendance, were enraged by an elbow on Moss by the touchline as well as two dubious offside decisions late on as the match officials seemed to let the game drift further away from their grasp.

The final talking point of the game was in injury time, where FC Stratford were awarded a free kick, and to the bewilderment of all in attendance, saw a (2nd) straight red card of the evening, this time for goalscorer Ralf Penton.

The two sides had to settle for a share of the points, and continue their battle at the top end of the table.

For Droitwich, after 3 away games, return to Kingy's on Saturday (ko 3pm) when lowly Southam United are the visitors.
Droitwich can boast being just one of just 8 clubs in the UK Non-League pyramid with an unbeaten record going into Saturday's game.