Newark are still searching for their first win of 2010, after an ultimately disappointing display against Hull side Westella & Willerby. Town's recurring problem of being unable to field a settled side arose again with Louis Cree, Dave Issott and James Trentini all missing from the team that faced Dunkirk on Tuesday.  Luke Parsons, Jamie Brooks and Tom Wilford all came into the starting line up for the match.

As this was the first game for the visitors in 8 weeks when they went down 4-1 to the Blues, you might have expected a few signs of rustiness. But any hopes of an easy ride were dashed as early as the third minute, when Stevenson curled a 20 yard free kick past Attwood into the bottom right hand corner. Newark responded well to this early setback and created a number of good opportunities for a quick equaliser, the best of which fell to Luke Parsons; the striker flicking the ball over the bar when well placed in the area on 5 minutes. With 9 minutes gone, Sam Wilford set off on a strong run downfield, but his shot from distance went well wide of the post. Westella went close to finding a second goal on 17 minutes, when Young's driven shot from distance was deflected just wide of the post by Thompson.

The Blues suffered a severe blow on 21 minutes, when the recently returned Simon Greenfield aggravated his hamstring strain and was replaced by Richard Dyson in the centre of defence. Newark got a deserved equaliser on 28 minutes, when a brilliant cross field ball from Mark Ellison found Sam Wilford in the penalty area, and his first time shot beat Pawley. The visitors hit back almost immediately when Dyson was robbed just outside the area, but Dodson screwed his eventual shot well wide. Ian Wade conjured another chance on the stroke of half time, his 30 yard drive being comfortably gathered by Pawley.

Town started the second half with less urgency, the match being relatively devoid of excitement for the first quarter of an hour or so. On 60 minutes, Newark had a good chance to take the lead after a lovely passing move involving Wade, Mark Ellison and Sam Wilford, which ended with Wade having a low shot well saved by the legs of Pawley. Six minutes later, Dodson's ball in from the left found Thompson, but his first time shot went just wide. Substitute Chris Self struck a fierce 25 yard drive, which was saved low by the keeper on 75 minutes, as Newark began to search for a winner.

However, on 81 minutes, Ian Wade lost the ball in the centre of the park, which allowed Westella to break away. As Thompson reached the by-line, Dyson made a rash challenge which gave the referee little choice but to award the penalty. Thompson stepped up and comfortably sent Attwood the wrong way, slotting the ball into the top right hand corner. As time began to run out, Newark claimed a share of the points in rather fortunate circumstances on 88 minutes, Jamie Brooks' low cross taking a deflection off a defender into the back of the net to level the scores. Mark Ellison almost won the match in injury time, a thirty yard piledriver by the midfielder being spectacularly turned over the top for a corner. On reflection, however, taking the 90 minutes as a whole, a draw was probably fair, with neither side doing enough to earn all three points.

After the match, Rupert Thomas said “I wasn't happy. At the moment in time we can't seem to keep a settled side. Today we've given them two goals, and we just can't afford to do that. We keep making these mistakes week in week out.” Newark will be looking for improvements as they host Southwell City on Tuesday evening.