Pontefract Collieries had to battle back from two down to maintain their unbeaten record since they moved back in to play at their Hunters Stadium.

Up against Bridlington Town in their latest NPL East match, they found themselves losing 2-0 in the first 24 minutes to goals from Michael Coulson and Ifeanyi Nnenanya, but were given a lifeline with Ben Middleton’s goal from a corner just before the break.

Striker Joe Lumsden equalised in the 74th minute and with neither team able to force a late winner it finished with honours even at 2-2.

While disappointing for a side pushing for the play-offs to drop points against opponents below them in the table the result meant Ponte had stretched their unbeaten run to nine games.

Joe Lumsden netted an equaliser for Pontefract Collieries against Bridlington Town. Picture: Kevin Creighton

placeholder image — Joe Lumsden netted an equaliser for Pontefract Collieries against Bridlington Town. Picture: Kevin Creighton

It showed the spirit the sixth-placed side has this season and manager Jimmy Williams was happy enough to have picked up a point.

"It was an eventful 90 minutes for the neutral,” he said. “I know we dictated most of the play, but overall it was probably a fair result.

"You can’t gift teams in this league a 2-0 lead and expect to get anything out of the game.

"But we’ve fought well, we’ve got back at two-all in control and then we’ve decided to turn it into a basketball match for the last 15 minutes where any of the sides could have nicked it.

"They’ve had a couple of penalty shouts which on a different day if the number nine was a bit smarter he gets one. We’ve had a couple of chances as well.

"I was always confident even at 2-0 we would get something out of the game because we were the better team and controlling most parts of the play. Fair play to the lads, they’ve dug in and got a point."

Colls are back on their travels this Saturday when they play Bishop Auckland looking to continue their unbeaten run.

Williams is expecting a challenging game before his side then face a busy March with a number of rearranged matches making it a testing run-in.

He added: “We’ve got to stay together. It will be a tough game at Bishop Auckland, they’ve picked up a bit, but hopefully we get a couple of bodies back and we can be confident we can go there and get three points.

"There’s still a lot of football to be played, we’re still unbeaten at home and we’ve just got to keep going and see where it takes us.”