Ossett United joint manager Jas Colliver pleased with progress made by team

Although United failed to find the back of the net they defended well to keep a clean sheet against opponents starting the day in fifth place in the table and earned the draw despite losing Luke Hogg to a red card.

The combative midfielder was sent-off in the 68th minute after pushing Dean Thexton away in retaliation following the home player elbowing him. Both received their marching orders from referee Sam Packer and finished the game with 10 men.

A draw was a fair result, but the visitors finished the stronger with Charlie Wood seeing his well struck shot saved and James Walshaw putting the ball in the net only for a linesman’s flag to rule his effort out for offside.

Earlier Ed Hall had been the hero with some excellent saves as he continued to make a good impression after coming to the club recently.

United could have taken the lead, though, when Mikey Williams, Ify Ofoegbu and Jordan Turner went close with shots.

Overall it was another small step in the right direction for the Ingfielders after the recent beatings at the hands of Cleethorpes and Liversedge and with five points now collected from the last three matches Ossett still have an outside chance of reaching the play-offs.

Shildon occupy the last of the play-off spots and are still 12 points above United, but with a game in hand the Ingfield club have not given hopes of a top five finish just yet.

“It’s a really good point on the road,” said Colliver after the goalless draw in the north east.

“When you travel up to the north east you know what you are going to get – it’s always going to be a difficult game – but I thought we did well, particularly in the first half when we played quick and we got bodies forward.

“We said we wanted to try to get bodies forward and it was evident that we did that.

“We were brave away from home, went with a front three and we said let’s give it a right go – and I think the lads did that throughout.”

Gavin Rothery praises team spirit as 10-man Pontefract Collieries end Stockton Town's winning run

Colliver is happy with the way the side is shaping up again after the horror games a while back.

He added: “You’ve got to have strength in depth and over the last three games you’ve seen ours. We’ve rotated it a little bit and you have lads coming off the bench who would get into any team in the division.

"I’m confident in the squad that we’ve got.

“It’s unfortunate that we lose Hoggy now for three or four games and he needs to learn from his red cards. We can’t keep him in for three, out for three so it’s a learning experience for him. But we were hard to beat and arguably had the better chances as well. We could have won it late on.

“It’s the first time we’ve travelled with the supporters and they travelled in numbers on a freezing cold day in the north east. Fair play to that, keep backing us and I’m looking forward to next Saturday now.

“There were some tired legs out there so we might rotate again, but we’re confident that with whatever rotation we go with we’ve got good lads in the squad now. Undefeated in the last three, I think you can take that and move on.”

Ossett are back at home this Saturday when they entertain Lincoln United, who have slipped down to 15th in recent weeks.

Ossett United Women produced one of their best displays of the season as they beat Sheffield Wednesday Ladies 6-1 in the North East Regional League.

Rowan Treagus led the way with four goals with Debs Hastings and Chelsea Schofield also on target.

Wakefield AFC left frustrated after drawing a blank at Houghton Main