THE WITTON COLUMN - Paul Harper

WELL, last weekend’s game at Wincham Park was certainly a thrilling encounter.

Witton Albion played out an entertaining 3-3 draw with FC United of Manchester in the Northern Premier League with an equaliser from Billy Smart three minutes into injury time securing a point.

It was a really good game between two sides who find themselves on the edge of the play-off positions in the division.

You could see why both teams are challenging for those top five positions.

And it was good to see that neither team froze in such an important game.

They both kept going right until the end and a point apiece was a fair outcome, I think.

There are plenty of positives that manager Carl Macauley can take out of the game.

Young striker Kyle Sambor came off the bench and he got himself on the scoresheet for the first time in an Albion shirt.

It is fair to say Kyle looked a real threat and he took his two goals really well.

He is a player who looks to have bags of potential.

Working with Carl and his assistant Gary Martindale, I’m sure they will get the best out of Kyle.

The spirit of the team is also something to applaud.

They kept going on Saturday and, despite suffering the setback of conceding late after bringing the game back to 2-2, showed tremendous determination to get back on level terms in stoppage time to ensure we picked up a point.

It was also pleasing to see a healthy crowd of 933 packed in at Wincham Park for the game.

The Wittoners in attendance gave the team fantastic support and hopefully you all enjoyed the match.

That support really helped the players on the pitch, so a big thank you from everyone at the club and keep doing what you’re doing.

We have another important game coming up at Wincham Park this Saturday when we host Scarborough Athletic.

Last season’s corresponding game was an entertaining one, with two late goals turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory.

Hopefully we’ll get similar entertainment once again and, of course, the same result!

To finish this column we have some player news, it was disappointing to lose Stefan Sorensen to injury.

The young defender picked up a nasty ankle injury in our League Cup game against Newcastle Town last week.

We wish him a speedy recovery.

But fellow defender, Isaac Baldwin, has extended his loan stay with us for another month from National League North side Farsley Celtic which is really good news.

Despite playing out of his natural position, Isaac performed very well during his initial month on loan at Witton.