MINEHEAD showed astonishing effort, commitment and doggedness to gain a 1-1 draw away to highly placed Chippenham on Saturday.

With most Screwfix Direct Western League matches postponed due to the very wet weather, manager Chris Porter was reluctant to make the long journey and with suspensions, injuries and work commitments taking their toll, only 11 players travelled, and all played like heroes.

The draw extended Minehead's unbeaten run to seven matches to consolidate their mid table position.

Chippenham played down the slope in the first half and took the match to the Blues in strong fashion.

Known for their physical approach, Steve Nicholls took a heavy challenge in helping repel one of their many early raids on the Minehead goal, which left him a hamstring problem, but soldiered on by moving into midfield with Gary Bennett reverting to a defensive role.

Since resigning from Ilfracombe, Bennett has played in his normal role as striker, and in this match showed the benefit of his size and strength, his ability to kick the ball immense distances helping to relieve the Chippenham pressure on a number of occasions and turned defence into attack.

For all their effort in the first period, Chippenham had few strikes on target, all easily dealt with by keeper Lee Ayres.

Alex Crook was again outstanding at the heart of the defence, and ably supported by stalwart Adrian Giblett and Dave Burr, they thwarted many Chippenham raids.

The best chance of the half fell to Blues striker Nick Woon. Put clear by a Damon Palfrey through pass, he rolled his shot inside the nearpost, only for the keeper to scramble a smothered save and keep the score 0-0 at the break.

Palfrey, continuing his current rich vein of form, became increasingly influential as the Blues used the slope to their advantage in the second half, with the match evenly balanced and the partisan crowd becoming disenchanted with their team's inability to find the vital breakthrough.

The visitors stuck admirably to their task - even when Lee Porter was flattened by a late challenge and sustained a niggling knee injury, he carried on for the remainder of the game.

Chippenham made a substitution to try to unlock the solid defensive wall, but with 15 minutes remaining it was Minehead who opened the scoring.

Another superb Palfrey through ball put Mark McKenna half clear in the left channel and, using his strength and pace, he forced himself into a shooting position. His fierce left foot strike was only half saved by the keeper and Woon was in the right place to force the ball home.

Having scored in all of his last eight matches, Woon is in sight of the record set by Terry Compton in 1959 of scoring in nine successive outings at the start of that season.

Chippenham made two substitutions at once as they literally fought to get back into the match and almost immediately Bennett felt the impact when he was on the end of another doubtful tackle, suffering a nasty cut on the ankle.

Again he continued manfully through the remainder of the match, but with the injuries taking their toll and substantial closing pressure, the home team finally found an equaliser.

A cross from the left eluded the Blues defence for once and Simon Charity's shot from eight yards gave Ayres no chance.

Minehead were under siege for the few remaining minutes but held firm for a moral victory and deserved away point.

Minehead Town: Lee Ayres, Dave Burr, Adrian Giblett, Alex Crook, Steve Nicholls, Damon Palfrey, Lee Porter, Nick Whyborn, Mark McKenna, Gary Bennett, Nick Woon.