Wotton Rovers 1 King's Stanley 1

ROVERS boss Jake O'Neill continued his Synwell comeback with a well-crafted draw against an impressive King's Stanley, a result he was immensely pleased with. Following on from last week's 3-0 drubbing of Pucklechurch Sports, O'Neill's first game back in charge since returning to the club from Shortwood United, Rovers faced a stiffer challenge against a well-organised Stanley on Saturday.

O'Neill is still settling back into the role that he held for several glorious seasons, and there would appear to be much work ahead as he gets his teeth into the task of resurrecting Rovers' faltering season.

As he said: "I'm scouting around, looking for a few new faces, and there are one or two players who might join us shortly. However, we've had a lot of young kids come into the team, and boys who have come in and done well. The effort and commitment of the players who took part on Saturday was superb."

It was a re-shaped Rovers line-up that took to the field, with last week's hero Jason Brown, the striker whose hat-trick against Pucklechurch lit up O'Neill's first game back, out injured. With forward Johnny Lang having returned to Shortwood and experienced midfielder Melvin Hurcom suspended, a slight reshuffle was needed. Sweeper Simon Anderton reverted to a midfield role alongside Owain Clement, and Mike Rodman continued at the heart of the defence. However, it was keeper Paul Eldridge that Rovers fans were grateful to by half-time, having kept his side in the game with a string of outstanding saves as the two teams went in goaless at the break.

O'Neill is a huge fan of his number one, and said: "Eldridge is a quality keeper, and King's Stanley could have been four or five goals up if it wasn't for him. I've got great faith in him, and he showed why today with some great saves to keep us in it."

However, Stanley did take a deserved lead on 50 minutes, as a cross from the left by Chamberlain saw Mishie Green ghost past the defence to fire in for the opener.

It was a sloppy goal to concede, but Rovers roared back 15 minutes from time. A fine move down the left involving new boy Byron Alley saw the ball smashed across the box for Anderton to knock it into the net to cue some wild celebrations, with Anderton's the wildest of all.

O'Neill summarised the match by commenting: "We hung on after our goal, and did well considering King's Stanley had the better, more experienced players. I told the lads at half-time not to get despondent, and the players' effort and commitment saw us through. King's Stanley will feel that they should have won, but that's football."