WATCHET visited top of the table Nailsea and Tickenham last Saturday and managed to stay on the heels of the league leaders by coming home with a share of the points.

Missing the height of Jamie Milton in defence and falling behind inside two minutes, the Red and Blacks were then further hampered by losing both their full backs to injury and having to use their substitutes in the first half, but they replied after the break to gain a hard-earned draw.

The visitors made the worst possible start when Nailsea forced a corner from the kick-off, swiftly followed by another which was lofted beyond the far post and nodded back into the goalmouth where Pilgrim was able to force the ball over the line to give his side the lead.

Watchet were rocking for a while after this as their hosts denied them any time on the ball to put passing movements together.

Despite having more of the possession, Nailsea didn’t provide much to trouble keeper Adam Bishop and the visitors gradually got to grips with the pace of the game.

Tom Sparks began to cause concern to the home defence with his twisting and turning, backed up by Jason Worth’s industry from midfield.

The Red and Blacks adapted well to the enforced reshuffle caused by Ben Robinson’s early departure and Ryan Strong also limping off, with substitutes Connor Jeromson and Callum Knight coming on to play their part, and looked to have reasonable penalty claims turned down when Aaron Deeks was bundled over near the byeline.

Nailsea had another spell of pressure just before the interval, but importantly the visitors survived and their reward came two minutes into the second half when they drew level.

A neat pass from Deeks found strike partner Sparks just outside the box and he was tripped from behind as he jinked into the area and this time the referee pointed to the penalty spot.

After home protests that the offence had taken place outside had been waved away, Deeks calmly sent keeper Mellor the wrong way to make it 1-1.

Watchet now had something to hang onto and things were almost even better soon afterwards when a 25-yard drive from Deeks narrowly missed the angle of post and bar.

A determined Red and Blacks outfit worked hard all-round and defended resolutely with Matt Heywood and Chris Sully leading by example and the Clausen brothers adjusting well as they gained more experience in different roles.

On a rare occasion when they were breached, Bishop got down smartly to push a shot aside for a corner which was eventually cleared after a scramble and when the home side did get the ball in the net it was ruled out for offside.

Worth and Sparks threatened again on Watchet’s left before a late home corner raised more alarms as centre back Cook – who scored the winner in the corresponding fixture last season – found the ball at his feet six yards out, only for Mikey Bailey to make a crucial block on the line to ensure a team effort got the result which suited them better than their opponents.

Watchet: A Bishop, R Strong, M Heywood, C Sully, B Robinson, J Worth, M Bailey, C Clausen, A Clausen, A Deeks, T Sparks, subs C Jeromson, C Knight (both used).

l Tomorrow (Saturday) Watchet face a derby at home to Staplegrove with resources seriously stretched as injuries hinder their attempts to stay in touch with the front runners. Kick off is at the earlier time of 2pm.