James Crane scored Walden's equaliser away at Downham Town on Saturday.

DESPITE dominating the play for much of the game, Saffron Walden could not finish off their opponents, Downham Town, and had to settle for a 1-1 draw.

Throughout the game Downham battled tigerishly for the ball, and tried to make it difficult for the Bloods to play their passing game. Last week Downham won 4-1 away to Debenham, after a poor start to the season, and in this game showed that they will give most teams a tough battle for the points.

In the ninth minute James Crane was harshly penalised for robbing Luke Pearson of the ball after a mix up in the Downham defence, and three minutes later the Downham keeper had to save again at full stretch from his own defender after good pressure from Louis Harper.

Keeper Paul Wood was a spectator as Walden spent the majority of the time in the Downham half, but the quality of the crosses could have been better.

In the 36th minute Louis Harper had a good chance to score, but sliced his shot into the keepers arms, and two minutes later the same player could have scored from a Crane cross, but dwelt on the ball too long.

The best chance of the half fell to Ben Riches after 41 minutes minutes, when he got onto the end of a Crane cross from the left. But his shot from six yards was well saved by Pearson in the Downham goal, to keep them in the game at the interval.

After the break Harry O’Malley struck a superb shot which drew a fantastic save from Pearson, and from the corner Alex Riches headed just over the bar.

Seven minutes later the same player drew an equally fine save from the Downham keeper, and it was Riches again whose shot was saved from the corner.

The Bloods were made to pay for not taking their chances when, in the 65th minute, Mathew Dye won the ball on the left and scored with a well-taken shot into the far corner, with Downham’s only real chance of the game.

Much to the relief of the shaken Walden players, their lead only lasted three minutes when Crane gambled with a shot from 20 yards which moved in the air, and although Pearson got a hand to the ball, he spilled it into the goal for the equaliser.

The keeper made up for his error in the 72nd minute when Steve Leys got on to the end of a cross from Crane, and he deflected a flicked shot wide of the goal for a corner.

Walden’s attacks became more frantic in the closing stages, and in the 86th minute Charlie Davies found Crane, who cut inside and had a shot deflected over the keeper, but also over the bar.

Stuart Wardley struck a good volley from the corner, but from close range put the ball over the bar, and the Downham defence were able to frustrate the Bloods in the final minutes and hang on to a hard-earned point.

WALDEN: Paul Wood, Chris Reid, Harry O’ Malley, Jake Noble, Alex Riches, Stuart Wardley, Louis Harper, Peter Davies, Ben Riches (Charlie Davies -58), Zac Rayner (Steve Leys – 66 min), James Crane.