Western League, Premier Division

St Austell 2 Ivybridge Town 2

Two late goals by substitute Kieron Bishop rescued a point for St Austell against an Ivybridge side who had looked on course for an impressive victory at Poltair Park on Wednesday evening, writes Kevin Marriott.

The Lillywhites were on the back foot early in the game after Bailey Mabin fired the Ivies in front after only five minutes and for the opening 20 minutes it was one way traffic.

And when former Torpoint defender Sam Hillson made it 2-0 with eight minutes to go the visitors were in pole position. But Bishop, brought on 20 minutes from time, pulled a goal back immediately to set up an exciting finale. Ivybridge seemed to be coping well until the first minute of seven added on when Bishop swept in his and the Lillywhites’ second goal.

There was still time for either side to snatch a winner and St Austell felt they should have been awarded a penalty when Liam Eddy appeared to be sent to the ground by keeper Kane Gregory as the Lillywhites’ striker tried to go past him.

But the referee waved play on and it turned out to be the last big opportunity.

Manager Chris Knight said: “It was bitter sweet really – on one hand at 2-0 down and with the battering we took in the first 20 minutes I’d have bitten your hand off for a point.

“But then at 2-2, for me the whole ground sees the penalty, it’s as clear a penalty as you’ll ever see but that’s the game, you get them sometimes and sometimes you don’t.”

He added: “Credit to Ivybridge; as I’ve said, they killed us in the first period of the game and let’s be honest it should have been all over.

“What it does show is the resilience of this group and that we are learning how to stay in games in this league.

“I’m delighted with the second half; we showed all the qualities you need to do well, the main ones being fight and determination.

“It’s easy to play nice football, we’ve got good players, that’s going to happen – we need to learn the other side of it and I was delighted with how we did that on the evening.

“The whole squad deserves credit at the moment; three unbeaten and we are decent at home. I’m happy with the way we are going after a tricky start.

“The players are the only ones who can change it and they’ve done just that; fair play to them all.”

St Austell: A Collings, J Shaw, M Duff, T Whipp, D Mulready, C Watson, N Slateford, H Wilson, L Eddy, M Searle, G Marris. Subs used: T Guest, K Bishop, H Chapman. Subs not used: J Gilbert, J Rogers, O Brokenshire. Goals: K Bishop (82 & 90+1).

Ivybridge: K Gregory, CJ Legrice, O Aplin (CJ Pritchard), C Miller, S Pocock, S Hillson, D Hewings (C Wright), R Daly, B Mabin (R Busby), S Thomson, O Pritchard (J Smelt). Sub not used: J Miller.

Attendance: 174.