Touching Distance of the Title After Battling Draw at Gornal

George Revell reports as Knowle move to the brink of the league title…

Odane Barnes scored a dramatic 98th-minute equaliser as battling Knowle staged a superb second-half fight-back to secure a valiant point in a pulsating 2-2 draw on the road at title rivals Gornal Athletic.

It looked as though Knowle were down and out of their crunch clash at Garden Walk as first-half goals from Jamie Beddall and Taylor Homer left the Robins with a mountain to climb after the break.

But their never-say-die attitude shone through and Barnes struck twice to not only deny the hosts three points that would have kept them in the title conversation, but also put Knowle on the brink of silverware and back-to-back promotions in their centenary year.

Gornal have proven tricky customers for Knowle this season and took the lead inside two minutes through a bullet header from right-back Beddall after a second successive corner.

Stand-in Robins stopper Shaune Allen did well to tip Homer’s right-wing corner out of harm’s way, but Gornal’s set piece specialist ran straight over to the other side and whipped one in for Beddall to power in from close range.

The home side - knowing only a victory would leave them with any realistic chance of winning the title - put all sorts of pressure on Knowle in the opening 10 minutes, and might have doubled their lead had the league’s leading goal-scorer Travaey Wright not miscued his header following Taylor Townsend’s right-wing cross.

Talib Copeland, Knowle’s top scorer, has caused opposing wingers all kinds of problems this season and drew a shirt-pull which put Beddall’s name in the referee’s book after 16 minutes. In search of his 23rd goal of this record-breaking campaign, Copeland curled the resulting free-kick just past the left-hand post.

The imposing forward was instrumental in creating a huge opportunity for Knowle to draw level midway through the first half. Roaming on the right flank this time, his physicality was too much for Gornal’s left-siders Jake Short and Brad Ward. The latter bundled him to the ground inside the box and a spot-kick was awarded.

Connor Mort stepped up in front of the jeering Gornal support, but his strong effort was well saved by the left hand of home goalkeeper Reece Francis.

Gornal had a spot-kick themselves 11 minutes later when Ricardo Dudley inadvertently cleared Mitch Botfield’s goal-bound header off the line with his hand at the back post.

The incident was deemed accidental so Dudley didn’t receive further punishment, but Homer did find the bottom-left corner with his penalty despite Allen going the right way.

Knowle played through Gornal’s midfield and carved out a chance to halve the deficit with a minute of the first half remaining. Copeland played George Seeley through and the skipper forced a good save from his Gornal counterpart Francis from a tight angle on his weaker right foot.

Knowle came out strong after half-time and pulled one back within eight minutes of the restart. Another free-kick from a dangerous area deflected kindly off the Gornal wall and Barnes bundled in from close range.

Then came a worrying moment for Anton Powell. The left-back stayed down after lunging in on Gornal right-back Short and was eventually replaced by Syrus Warren-Paul after receiving on-field treatment for over six minutes.

Gornal’s first real chance of the second half came via a set piece after the hour. Botfield flicked on Short’s long throw-in and the ball fell invitingly for Ward to whistle an effort just over the bar from 20 yards out.

That was a bigger chance than it felt like - and a big let-off for Knowle, who couldn’t concede the next goal.

Jack Duggan then used all of his experience to calmly head back to Allen under the pressure of Botfield when the forward would have otherwise had a one-on-one chance.

A slip from Warren-Paul allowed Wright into the box for a chance that ultimately wasn’t taken with 15 minutes to play. Wright didn’t use his time effectively and Knowle’s back-line rushed to the substitute’s aid, ensuring Homer couldn’t guide the cut-back past Allen.

If either team were going to score in the closing stages, it looked more likely to be Knowle. They were getting the ball into the box - albeit not always threatening - and Gornal were over-hitting escape ball after escape ball.

And that goal finally came in the eighth minute of stoppage time when Copeland raced beyond Dan Harvey down the left flank before flashing a ball across goal for Barnes to fire home.

It was a goal that sparked absolute limbs from the away dugout and the travelling Knowle support. They knew their team was within touching distance of the league title.

But the game wasn’t over just yet - or so everyone at the stadium of a Knowle persuasion thought.

Just when Callum Scott and Warren-Paul were sprinting through on goal - with absolutely no-one in their way - after a rapid counter-attack had been launched following a Gornal corner, the referee decided to blow his whistle for full-time.

Scott was shown a straight red card in the aftermath for an aggrieved reaction, but it feels very hard to blame him. With the comeback of all comebacks and three crucial points in the balance, it was a mix of joy and frustration for Knowle once the tempers had settled.

After all was said and done, victory over Stapenhill for Knowle and anything other than three points for Gornal against Ingles will seal the deal for the Robins this Saturday.

You can really smell it now.