Sam Fielding scored an astonishing goal from inside his own half, but it wasn’t enough to help Moors to victory as they were held to a draw by Morpeth Town on Tuesday night.
The summer signing unleased an unstoppable effort which sailed over the visiting keeper and into the net to put Jamie Chandler’s side in front, but Morpeth battled back to level almost immediately and the latest pre-season friendly finished all-square at The Brewery Field.
A high tempo opening to the game failed to yield much in the way of goalmouth drama, though Glen Taylor fired a free-kick just over and Moors’ trialist keeper had to react well to parry away a testing Morpeth cross from the left.
On 27 minutes the game burst into life. Fielding won back possession ten yards inside his own half and, spotting Morpeth’s keeper James Anderson on the edge of his area, he unloaded with a wonderful effort which didn’t even touch the ground before slamming into the net for 1-0.
The lead didn’t last long though. Morpeth piled forward and forced another good save from Moors’ keeper before the ball fell loose to Danny Barlow who rifled it into the roof of the net to level things up.
Connor Shanks could have restored Moors’ advantage early in the second half when he darted inside from the right but then blasted his shot over the bar on his left foot, while Taylor saw another venomous free-kick flash just too high.
A round of changes followed from both teams and the chances were few and far between for the remainder of the period, Mark Anderson coming close when shooting from range but firing over and then dragging another effort wide following good work from Taylor and Rob Ramshaw.
Full Time: Moors 1 Morpeth Town 1
Moors: Trialist, Ledger, Mbeka, Pollock (Curtis 62), Staunton, Fielding (Anderson 62), Ramshaw, Greenfield (Ross 62), Shanks (Harris 62), Taylor, McKeown (Ferguson 62).
Sub not used: Mouat.
Referee: Ross Joyce