Report by Jon Green

Wimborne Town and Rovers played out a tight, but exciting, nil nil draw in the FA Cup Preliminary Round on Saturday afternoon. A game that saw both keepers having to make good stops.

Wimborne had the livelier start to the game and twice in the first five minutes tested Sam Jepson in the Paulton goal. Despite spilling the ball a couple of times early on, there was no damage done as captain Neil Martin's defence tidied things up at the back.

Rovers began to get themselves into the game and started a long period of pressure of their own without really testing Bert White in the Wimborne goal. In fact, in the 14th minute, Wimborne's Jez Bedford had the ball in Paulton's goal but the offside flag was quickly raised to save the day for the visitors.

In the 19th minute, the ever hard working Joe Morgan, did well on the righthand side of the Wimborne box to hold up the ball and eventually win a corner which David O' Hare took. The ball was partially defended but only away to Leo Eglin who was lurking on the edge of the box. But his strike soared over the bar.

The chance was the first in a series that Rovers had over the in the next few minutes. Firstly from another O'Hare corner, Fin Haines connected with his head just a couple of yards out and fired the ball downwards towards the goal but a Spiderman-like reflex from the keeper managed to keep the ball out.

Minutes later, the Wimborne stopper pulled out the save of the game from a David Slade header after Fin Haines had found the Rovers defender at the far post with a pinpoint cross. Nick Hewlett then headed over from the resulting corner.

In the 38th minute, Kye Simpson took a shot from outside the area after more good work from Joe Morgan, but it didn't trouble the host's goal. Just two minutes later, Rovers put together a great move as David O'Hare picked up the ball in midfield and threaded a perfect pass out left for Leo Eglin to move in on. He took a shot on early but it was agonisingly wide of the far post.

Despite the Rovers pressure, Wimborne were still a threat and just to prove it, they immediately moved the ball around quickly up the pitch giving a headed chance for Harry Baker. But his attempt also went just wide.

The second half began with Rovers continuing to create in the Wimborne half but didn't really trouble the keeper until the 50th minute when Bert White made yet another good save again from a Fin Haines header.

Dan Restorick's long throws were giving Rovers an added dimension and one of these allowed Leo Eglin another chance but his shot was hit just over the bar.

Wimborne were still threatening themselves and after a double substitution got a good chance when Dan Bartlett hit a nice curling shot from outside the Rovers' box but Sam Jepson was equal to it. Jepson also had to make several sweeper-like clearances from long balls over the Rovers' defence.

In the 70th minute, the Wimborne keeper made his only mistake when he inexplicably seemed to handle the ball outside the box with Rovers in a good attacking position. The referee waived the yellow card although a number of the crowd reached for their phones to google the rules in the confusion! David O'Hare stepped up to take the free-kick, and although it was sweetly struck, yet again the ball flashed past the upright.

The final twenty minutes began to get tight as neither team wanted to go behind this late in the game. In the 83rd minute another trade-mark Restorick' long throw gave another headed chance for Nick Hewlett but the ball flew wide again.

With the game tightening even more and both defences on top, in added time, Wimborne broke free down the left. Sam Jepson pulled off a perfectly timed sliding save to prevent a late winner. It was the last action of the game as the referee blew his whistle.

Both teams will be frustrated they weren't able to hit the back of the net but, for Rovers, the news that Bert White was the Man of the Match for Wimborne, would be solace that they did almost all they could to win the game. Coming off the back of two defeats, there were plenty of positives to take into the next game. That will be the replay at Winterfield Road on Tuesday evening with a 7.30pm kick-off.