Burton Albion 1 Histon 1

A competitive match finally ended in a draw reflecting how the team's had played.

I realised that this was the first time I had ever actually been to the town of Burton, although being a new ground it has been built on the outskirts of a town dominated by the Pirelli factory - so I didn't see much of the town anyway.

The ground was as impressive as I thought it would be. It is obviously new and well-appointed although because it has stands on all four sides the pitch did seem a bit small. I had a drink in the bar in the ground which was like drinking in a hospital, it was so spartan. Have they never heard of pictures? A few fans were complaining about the state of the pitch - all I can say is they obviously never saw football in the seventies, when grass was a thing of distant memory come February. Burton did proudly unveil their brand new electronic scoreboard, although if I'm honest, I don't think it was any bigger than a beachtowel!

The game was played in ideal conditions with the snow that was threatened never materialising. In fact, it was a bright, cold day. The first half is best forgotten. Histon play a fairly agricultural type of game with their size and physique puttin g off the more skilful Burton players. It was no surprise that the game was goalless after 45 mins, although Histon had a great chance when a header hit the underside of the bar and bounced onto the line and away (except according to the Histon fans, who claimed it was over the line like 1966)

The second half was completely different. It helped that Burton scored first when McGrath hit a shot from 25 yards that got enough of a deflection to take it past the Histon keeper. Burton threatened to add to their lead in the two minutes straight after but Histon weathered the storm and bagan to take the game to the hosts.

A whole raft of substitutions spoilt the flow of the game but Histon gradually began to gain the ascendancy. It was therefore no surprise when Nightingale equalised 5 minutes from time sending the visiting supporters singing all the way home (get it? Nightingale...singing!)

So, a replay it is and a trip to Histon near Cambridge. A quick scan of the teams left in the competition shows that these two have a realistic chance of going all the way. It should, therefore, be a competitive game. I do think that Burton will stand more chance away from home as it should suit their style of play more.