Bill Stell's match report on Nelson Reserves' draw with reigning champions Padiham at The Arbories.

It was all square in the ‘mini’ local derby this week when 10 men Nelson Res drew with their counter parts from Padiham. The early part of the game was fairly even but Nelson took the lead on 12 minutes with a stunning goal, his third in three games, from Chris Gaskill, who was outstanding throughout the game. Nelson looked comfortable from then on and deservedly went into the break with the lead. The turning point in the game came early in the second half when Nelson had a player sent off and had to defend from then on in the face of increasing pressure from the home side. The defence was superb and restricted the visitors to only a few chances only one of which was converted and Nelson held out to earn a creditable draw with last year’s champions.