REPORT: Quorn 2-2 Needham Market

By James Kendrick

Quorn’s play-off hopes ended on Saturday after a 2-2 draw at home to Needham Market.

Despite taking the lead early on, Quorn were reliant on a stoppage time penalty to take a point from the game. The result, in their final home game of the season, confirms they will be playing Step 3 football while their opponents take their play-off push to the final game of the season.

Quorn knew nothing less than a win would be good enough for them and they came out fighting taking the lead after just 10 minutes. A long ball forward was headed on into the path of striker Jack Duffy who was in plenty of space to slot the ball home.

After the goal, Needham Market grew into the game and found themselves denied by goalkeeper Adam Harrison on a number of occasions. However, they got lucky three minutes before the interval when a shot from Tommy Smith was saved by Adam Harrison again but this time the rebound hit Smith and bounced back into the net.

And things got even better for the away side when they scored again five minutes into the second half through Myles Cowling. This triggered a real tactical change from Quorn as they knew they needed to win and so they made a triple change and went six up front. And they came close on occasions to getting back into the game as Mason Frizelle hit the bar.

With time running out, Quorn were given a way back into the game through a penalty, which Zak Goodson stepped up and scored but it wasn’t enough as the game finished 2-2.

With just one game left to play, Quorn have guaranteed themselves a top 10 finish and, whilst they can’t crack the top five, they have the chance to play spoiler as they travel to Redditch United, who are looking to break into the play-off places themselves.