PURTON boss Chris Pethick said his side’s draw with promotion challengers Lydney Town felt like a win.

Having struggled to get players out of late Purton have been in poor form, characterised by their 4-0 defeat at Malmesbury Victoria last Tuesday.

Against a Lydney side who have every chance of winning of promotion through the play-offs, Pethick’s men showed resolve to score a cracking late goal through Joe Dorey with time running out.

In the first half Lydney showed why they are near the top reaches of Hellenic League Division One West, having much the better of the game. Crucially howeverthe visitors only managed one goal, coming after Purton’s defence failed to clear their lines.

In the second half Purton took control and Pethick thought his side were worth their draw by the end.

“We scored with the goal of the season. A Paul Scholes-style goal on the volley from a corner, it was a goal worthy of winning the game but it got us a draw, we could have snatched a win in the second half,” said Pethick.

“Struggling of late, for numbers, we’ve got no forwards. We had to play with midfielders up front yesterday.

“I’m ecstatic, getting that equalising goal so late felt like a win, we were 1-0 down for so long. It was a good point.

“We were poor at Malmesbury on Tuesday, with respect to them we were poor. It was nice to get a performance as we’ve been poor of late.”

Elsewhere New College paid to pay for individual errors as they lost 4-1 to North Leigh United.

At the Flying Monk Dan Thompson, James Towsend and Stuart Fraser scored as Malmesbury played out a 3-3 draw with fellow mid-tablers Easington Sports.