St Helens Town 1 Barnoldswick Town 1

Town put their injury problems to one side as they battled their way to a deserved Premier Division point on Tuesday night.

Aaron Hollindrake, Mark Threlfall and Paul Cruz were all unavailable while Daniel Thorpe stepped in to plug the goalkeeper problem.

It looked like it was going to be a tough match for Town as St Helens hadn’t lost in their previous nine games.

A downpour five minutes before kick-off made the turf slick.

Town had the first strike at goal after four minutes but Kieran Fletcher’s close-range shot blocked.

At the other end five minutes later Michael Sykes-Wright saw his shot flash just wide of Thorpe’s goal.

The Town defence was caught napping after 11 minutes by a swift attack.

Andrew Gillespie picked up the ball and moved quickly into the Town penalty area before beating Thorpe at his near post.

St Helens threatened again after 19 minutes but Thorpe did well to save Adam Storey’s shot.

A promising Town move saw a Danny Morton shot blocked in front of goal.

St Helens, not to be outdone, saw Bill Williams make a tremendous block just inside the penalty area from a Storey shot, the ball rebounded to Sykes-Wright who shot over the bar.

Town had a great chance to equalise on the half hour when Samuel Howell put Kieran Lee through onto Ciaran Gibson’s goal.

He ran on into the penalty area but then somehow failed to get a shot on goal with everyone expecting him to roll the ball past the keeper, and a defender cleared.

He did make amends two minutes before half time.

Danny Morton slipped the ball sidewards to Lee who thumped the ball across Gibson into the far corner.

St Helens nearly regained the lead after Kieran Flet- cher was robbed just inside his own half.

A St Helens forward raced towards Thorpe’s goal and unleashed a shot that had Thorpe tipping the ball over the bar.

The second half started with Fletcher shooting from just outside the penalty area, Gibson initially fumbling the ball, but recovering well before a Town forward could capitalise.

Thorpe then showed his class diving to take the ball off Storey’s feet just outside the six yard box.

The rest of the match saw both defences on top, allowing shots from outside the penalty area which hardly troubled the goalkeepers at either end.

Town nearly stole it in injury time, first Shaun Judge made a brilliant block to a Paul Fildes shot, then two minutes later a great move involving full back Jake McEneaney and Joel Melia saw Morton drag his shot just wide.