HIGHWORTH Town came from two goals down to secure a Hellenic Premier point in hammering rain at Thame.

The relegation-battling visitors were 2-0 down minutes into the second half after Ellis Hercules (25) and Niall Hodgkins (53) put United in the ascendancy.

However, Ryan King's pass allowed Steve Robertson to jink away from his man and smash in the Worthians' first goal of the day in the 68th minute.

Robertson was immediately substituted due to fatigue and his replacement, Aaron Maximen, proved an inspired replacement, nodding Brad Clark's cross into the top corner two minutes from time.

Clark might have even won it for Highworth but his shot in the closing seconds fizzed the wrong side of the upright.

Boss John Fisher said: “The first 20 minutes we were playing quite good stuff but then we switched off and they scored from it. We were poor for the last 20 minutes of the first half.

“They scored in the first five minutes of the second half and at 2-0 down I would definitely have taken a point, but after that we completely dominated.

“The good thing is that four or five weeks ago we would have gone on to lose that game 4-0 or 5-0, but now we're showing a lot more fight.

“We have only lost twice in the last six games, so we're going in the direction. The players are disappointed they didn't win, which is a good sign.”

Many strikers would not have been pleased to be hauled off seconds after scoring for their side, but Fisher believes Robertson was content to exit the field of play.

The boss explained: “He's only just come back from six months out with a cruciate knee injury, and recently he's been on the bench coming on, but yesterday we decided to start him.

“Just before he scored we wanted to get Max (Maximen) on because Steve was starting to look a bit tired. We took him off before they had the chance to kick off again.

“Even though he had just scored he didn't mind, he was quite happy. He came running off and didn't say a thing and it ended up working out quite well for us.”

Fisher was relieved that the game was on at all - one of only two matches that took place in the division - as it meant Highworth avoided an extra midweek fixture.

He added: “It was lashing down all the way down there. I didn't think it would be on and we kept making phone calls on the way over - driving through Oxford the fields were just standing water.

“The pitch was playable, no two ways about it, and it held out fine.

“If it had been called off we would have had to go up there in midweek, but on a Saturday players are available.

“We had five subs available and in midweek we'd be lucky to have two.”

Elsewhere in the Hellenic Premier, Shrivenham did not play Slimbridge due to the wet weather.

In Division One West there were no games for Wootton Bassett, Fairford, Cricklade, Purton, New College, Malmesbury and Lambourn Sports for the same reason.