Cromer Town 1, Norwich Union 1THE visitors were the happier of the two sides with a point. Cromer can count themselves unlucky not to have got all three after they seemed to have a perfectly good goal ruled out.

Cromer Town 1, Norwich Union 1

THE visitors were the happier of the two sides with a point. Cromer can count themselves unlucky not to have got all three after they seemed to have a perfectly good goal ruled out.

But if the Crabs had been a lot more clinical in front of goal, they could have easily had a comfortable lead by half-time and there would have been no need for an injury-time equaliser.

It seems inevitable that a goal-scoring frenzy is in sight, and everyone at Cromer will be hoping it isn't too far away as they look to push up the Dolphin Autos Anglian Combination Premier Division table.

The Crabs made three changes to the side for the visit of Union. Shaun Cameron returned in place of Dale Cooper (away), David Harwood and Darren Terrington came in for Simon Durrant and Tom Davies, who were both on the bench, writes Richard Cox.

Cromer started the match brightly and were looking dangerous on every attack. Liam Davies passed to the feet of Terrington, who laid off to Harwood, but he fired off target.

Harwood then crossed to Danny Brown but he headed straight into the hands of Ross Bilham.

Karl Horton volleyed wide and Paul Bradshaw headed over. Another good delivery into the box saw Terrington's header on target, but it was another comfortable save for Bilham.

The visitors had a chance when Stuart Parsons failed to punch the ball clear and it fell in the box, but was scrambled clear. This was the only threat Union offered in the opening half and Cromer soon got back on the attack.

A corner came out to Horton on the edge of the box, but his low strike was just wide. Horton supplied a pin-point cross to Brown in space, but he headed wide.

Liam Davies advanced down the right and crossed to Jamie Hunton at the back post. He connected well with his volley but Bilham saved well.

Before half-time Bilham made a double save - first to deny Hunton, and then to tip over Brown's left-foot effort. From the resulting corner Bradshaw headed the ball down to Terrington, who saw his overhead kick come back off the bar.

Despite the Crabs' dominance in the possession stakes and the number of goal-scoring chances, they somehow failed to score and the game remained goalless.

At the start of the second half Norwich Union punished Cromer for their lack of cutting edge in the first half as they took the lead.

A ball into the box went right across goal, was not cleared and came back in from the left to Lee Cosgrove, whose shot was smartly saved by Parsons.

But Ben Soanes was quickest to react to the loose ball to score the first goal of the game.

Cromer still had a lot of the ball and posed a similar threat, but a slow start to the second half resulted in them going behind.

Brown headed wide and Terrington's header was blocked. Hunton's shot was then deflected over and Cameron volleyed high and wide. Tom Davies then had his long-range shot tipped over and Terrington again failed to score with his headed effort. Horton found himself with time and space but he drilled his shot over.

The game entered added time and it seemed as though Cromer were going to rue their missed opportunities.

However, a corner from the left fell in the six-yard box, where Tom Davies tapped home to equalise for the Crabs.

They weren't content with a point, and in the final seconds Horton ran down the left and cut in along the by-line before pulling the ball back for Terrington, who slotted home. But the goal was disallowed because the assistant judged that Horton had taken the whole ball out of play.