Long Eaton United survived a late Wellingborough Town barrage to take home a well earned point, after playing the final 17 minutes of the game, plus a further 10 minutes of stoppage time, with 10-men following captain Lewis King's controversial red card.

Long Eaton named an unchanged side from the team which defeated Rugby Town last weekend, with Jahvan Davidson-Miller keeping his place ahead of Dexter Walters who was 1 of 3 substitutes named on the bench. The home side, without a win in 3 needed a victory to push themselves back up into play-off contention, having slipped to 4 points off the top 5.

On a bright, sunny and uncharacteristically warm afternoon at the aptly named 'Dog & Duck Stadium', Long Eaton United got the game underway, and it wasn't long until the action started...

Just a couple of minutes into the game, Long Eaton were on the attack, and an inviting James Taylor cross somehow evaded everyone and ran out of play on the far side of the pitch. Wellingborough instantly had their first attack, which resulted in a corner and subsequently, Lewis King was forced into a smart punch away whilst under pressure. The resulting throw-in was pumped into the box and Elliott Hartmann was able to clear after a brief scramble.

The first sight of goal came just a minute later on 6 minutes. An inviting ball into the Long Eaton box was met by centre-forward Joseph Evans - his looping header was heading for the top corner, only for King to touch it over, and out for a another corner.

The Doughboys early onslaught then continued with a succession of corners giving The Blues more problems. On 10 minutes, from one of these corners, defender Charlie Green tried an acrobatic overhead kick, but thankfully, for Long Eaton, he could only guide it wide, past the post.

Pegged back, Long Eaton were able to quickly turn defence into attack, with a long, angled Callum Cocks pass forcing the home sides defender to head it behind for a corner of our own. From this corner, the ball broke to James Taylor inside the penalty area, but his shot was deflected safely into the goalkeepers arms.

There wasn't much respite for Long Eaton however, as Wellingborough continued to build pressure. First Jayden Cotterill was forced into a last ditch tackle, then Glenn Walker almost directed a shot at the far post towards goal.

On 28 minutes, leading scorer Will Jones then had an effort blocked from close range.

Just a minute later there was the first flashpoint of the game, Callum Cocks was caught late by home skipper Lloyd Buckby, who was shown the yellow card.

Cocks himself was then shown a yellow card for a similar challenge on Will Jones, whilst Owen Betts was also cautioned minutes later. The defender was adjudged to have kicked the ball away after it went out for a throw in.

Taylor Franklin had a dangerous effort blocked before halftime, but it was Long Eaton who would have been the happier side to see the whistle blown to signal the end of the first half, after largely withstanding the home sides pressure.

Manager Brad Munn instructed his players to get into the dressing room quickly, clearly not impressed with how his side had played out the first period.

Whatever Munn said to his team had the desired effect. The Blues began the second half on the front foot and enjoyed the bulk of the early possession, but a breakaway for Wellingborough on 51 minutes saw the first save of the second half from Lewis King.

Tristan Thompson-Matthews was then shown the latest soft yellow card, for apparently preventing a quick free-kick to be taken.

On 55 minutes, The Blues had their best chance of the game after a free flowing move from left to right. Hartmann and Thompson-Matthews were heavily involved and the latter's through pass to James Taylor put the winger through on goal, albeit from a tight angle, his shot was saved by the keepers feet. From the rebound, Thompson-Matthews had a goal-bound shot deflected just past the post.

Just 2 minutes later, a deep cross from Betts was fumbled by home keeper Snedker, and with the ball dropping at the feet of Evan Garnett, he was able to force the ball out for a corner.

On the hour mark, George Atwal was replaced by Connor Pace, with The Blues enjoying the best of the opening 15 minutes of the second half.

The home side made 2 changes before the main talking point of the game...

On 72 minutes, Hartmann was in the process of clearing a ball from the left-back position, when he was caught late by Will Jones. A minor confrontation took place involving just half-a-dozen players. Jahvan Davidson-Miller was booked for his protests that the tackle needed more action, before Captain Lewis King, who was in a position to take the free-kick, was shown a straight red card, allegedly for dissent towards the official. Eventually, Jones was booked too.

Once order was restored, Owen Betts, not for the first time in his Long Eaton United career, was handed the responsibility of stepping in the goalkeeper role, with now a straight objective; to hold firm for the remainder of the game.

Jamie Hanson came on in place of Thompson-Matthews soon afterwards to give Long Eaton an extra body to deal with the extra pressure coming their way.

Long Eaton dealt with the attacks pretty sternly for the next few minutes, whilst Betts himself had a scare after being caught late on his knee with an ugly challenge, which went unpunished. After extensive treatment, thankfully Betts was able to continue.

On 88 minutes, James Taylor became the next player to be show a yellow card, with the referee brandishing cards out quite needlessly by now.

As the minutes ticked by, it became a backs-to-the-wall job for The Blues, one effort was cleared off the line, another powerful header was straight at Betts, whilst another close range strike was saved on the line by Betts.

Wellingborough left themselves one-on-one at the back in their pursuit to find a winner, and once or twice The Blues threatened to break away and provide an unlikely final twist to what was encapsulating last quarter of the game.

With 10 minutes of time added on, Long Eaton held on for a well-earned point, but that wasn't before the referee was able to show one more final card, with manager Brad Munn the last recipient. Munn was given his marching orders in the closing seconds of the game. One can only assume he had said something to the match official which didn't go down too well...

Whilst the game finished a goalless draw, it certainly was not a bore draw.

Wellingborough 0 Long Eaton United 0