Darwen salvage a point from in Christmas stalemate
Coming into this one, Darwen desperately needed the points from this festive ‘roses’ clash.
The Salmoners started brightly – Creech got in behind and on to the end of a clever flick but he was adjudged to be offside.
The away side soon started to dictate proceedings, however, with The Salmoners having to be on guard to stop Campion taking the lead.
With six minutes on the clock, Campion did take the lead. Luke Rhodes dispatched a free header from a corner. 1-0.
Lee Ashforth’s side looked well in control as the game approached the quarter-of-an-hour mark.
Creech and Steele weren’t getting the service to pose a substantial threat of a response.
A cute chipped ball in behind almost resulted in a second for the visitors but this time Whittingham was on hand to thwart a Campion forward.
Sam Holt had a decent chance from a Steele corner but he completely miscued with the
A lovely curled ball in from the left-hand side by Steele had to be headed behind by a Campion defender on the edge of the six-yard box.
Darwen starting to move the ball around on the deck a bit more but never really to the same effectiveness as their opponents.
In the 24th minute, Knowles registered The Salmoners’ best effort on goal of the game so far, forcing a good save out of Campion keeper Bradley Emmerson with his cross-goal header at the back (right-hand) post.
The referee went to talk to his linesman after play was stopped for a bit of a scuffle. Darwen were eventually awarded a free-kick.
Right on the half-hour mark, Steele was going to put The Reds back on term but after rounding Emmerson a Campion defender cleared his close-range effort off the line.
Nicky Boshell then saw a decent strike of his from range whistle past the right-hand post.
Darwen could have made more of what they had going forward as the half-time whistle approached.
HALF TIME: DARWEN 0-1 CAMPION
SECOND HALF
The Salmoners got the second half underway looking to turn this game around and secure the three points that would be needed to climb out of the relegation zone.
Creech had a chance from the left-hand edge of the 18-yard box but the talisman couldn’t apply enough bend to find the top right-hand corner.
Nathan Bond went into the referee’s book for a poor challenge just inside the Campion half.
About 10 minutes into the second period, Whittingham made a good save to keep the score-line at 1-0.
Creech couldn’t quite reach out far enough to bring down a looping ball from the right from Cumpsty.
Nicky Boshell slid in at the back-post – he must have been inches away from doubling the visitors’ advantage.
Leon Hurles-Brook should have made it 2-0. Whittingham got a hand to his near (left-hand) post effort but only pushed it onto the underside of the crossbar the ball bounced out before it was eventually cleared.
As the second 45 wore on, Darwen seemed to be relying too much on the long ball over the top.
The Reds much as they were in the first half, were struggling to create any opportunities of note.
Creech should have either got a shot off or squared to Steele when the ball fell to him on the edge of the area.
The ball should have been turned home at a Steele corner.
Ethan Crossley went into the book for a late, out of control challenge as Darwen looked to advance down the right-hand side.
Darwen penalty appeals were waved away and the referee opted to award the visitors a goal-kick following a duel for the ball in the six-yard box.
With just a couple of minutes to go, Nathan Bond forced a good save from Emmerson low down to his left. The Salmoners recycled – Townsend did brilliantly to beat his man on the left-hand side and send in a dangerous cross which Steele headed home. 1-1.
Campion looked to re-take the lead right at the death to no avail.
FULL TIME: DARWEN 1-1 CAMPION
A pretty one-dimensional and low on confidence Darwen had managed to salvage a point at the eleventh hour.
THE TEAMS
DARWEN
STARTING XI
1. James Whittingham
2. Lewis Cumpsty
3. Jake Townsend
4. Luke Jarrold
5. Christopher Smalley
6. Samuel Holt
7. Ben Langford ©
8. Sam Knowles
9. Leon Creech
10. Ryan Steele
11. Nathan Bond
SUBSTITUTES
12. Clayton Gorman
13. Joshua Liversedge
14. Matthew Johnson
18. Tye Turner
CAMPION
STARTING XI
1. Bradley Emmerson
2. Jason Carney
3. Ethan Crossley
4. Scott Eastwood ©
5. Luke Rhodes
6. Robbie Graham
7. Daniel Keane
8. Jake Maltby
9. Mark Ferguson
10. Nicky Boshell
11. Leon Hurles-Brook
SUBSTITUTES
12. Piankhi Ta Seti
14. Abdul Conteh
15. Ibraheem Ali
16. Jake Charles
Lewis On Sport 
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