Trafford's penultimate pre-season friendly ended in a hard fought draw with BSBN side Droylsden.
Both sides had early chances, but the first creative move of the match was crafted by the home side. Sam Freakes' cross-field ball picked out Ben Morris on the left flank with pin-point accuracy, and his centre found Paul Ashton but he failed to find a team mate. Droylsden's 10 then had an effort that was wide of the target before, in the 11th minute, a beautifully weighted through ball opened up the Trafford defence to release Kilheeney but he could only shoot over under pressure.
In the 22nd minute Trafford created another chance as Freakes returned the compliment, by placing a ball over the top that Joe Shaw beat the opposition defender to but placed his shot narrowly wide.
This seemed to spur Droylsden on, as it triggered a spell of dominance by the visitors. First the 10 again shot over when he ought to have worked the keeper, and he followed this with a scuffed effort from inside the area that was well saved down low to his left by Tom Read. He then completed a hat-trick of chances in the 28th minute, by having a much better effort tipped away. From the resultant corner though the visitors pressure paid off as the 10 was yet again denied by Read down low at the near post, but the ball rebounded to Ciaran Kilheeney who slotted home from an acute angle in the 29th to continue his good pre-season form.

Kilheeney then shot over from range as Droylsden looked to cement their lead, and their 6 also had an effort that was well charged down by Nia Bayunu. These were followed by a well struck free kick, after a foul by John Buckley, that was acrobatically tipped over the crossbar by Read.
In the 37th minute, a shot by the Droylsden 8 was deflected into the hands of Read who immediately launched Trafford onto the offensive which ended with Ashton shooting just wide with visiting keeper Paul Phillips beaten. Just 3 minutes later though disaster struck for Phillips as a seemingly harmless ball in, following good work by Ashton, slipped through his hands under no pressure and the ball landed at the feet of Sam Freakes who completed an impressive 1st half display with his 1st goal in a Trafford shirt, be it in a friendly.

Droylsden were dealt a worrying moment just before half time, as Kilheeney went down under a hard but fair challenge from Shaw which lead to him being replaced at half time, a half that on reflection was evenly matched.
The second half began with Droylsden on top and in the 48th one of their half time subs, 14, put the first chance of the half wide of the mark, followed a minute later by the 8 following his lead. Their early half dominance continued with efforts from 20 and 3 off target, the latter of which really should have worked Read.
In the 68th minute a good attack ended with the 17, who had just entered the fray, putting his cross-cum-shot neither close enough to a team mate or the goal to overly-threaten the Trafford defence. In the 71st, yet another chance was blazed over this time by 11, adding to numerous chances from range that were off target.
In the 75th minute, Droylsden earned a corner on the left that was cleared as far as the visiting 11 whose shot was blocked, and the 16, who had replaced the impressive 10, had his shot again pushed away from danger by the ever impressing Read.
The faultless Read then brilliantly tipped away an inventive chipped effort, before a quick free-kick caught the Trafford defence napping but the 14 continued the story of the night for the Bloods by blasting his shot high.
This proved to be just the start of a late spell of pressure from Droylsden as they looked to put their lower league hosts away, and their best chance to accomplish this task came in the 84th as the 19 was put clean through but yet again was off target adding to the Bloods frustrations.

Joe Shaw almost won it for Trafford with just 2 mins remaining on the clock but his shot from 30 yards that was destined for the top right hand corner was brilliantly saved by the sub keeper, the one and only save he was forced into.
The game came to a close with Droylsden surely wanting to improve on their finishing, but Trafford emerging with great credit nonetheless for holding a team from 2 steps higher up the pyramid, and hoping to transfer this performance into next Tuesday's final pre-season game vs. last season's beaten Evo-Stik Premier Division play-off finalists FC United of Manchester.