Horncastle Town could only take a point, from a 2-2 draw, against the Lincolnshire League's basement side, Boston Town Reserves, who had previously conceded 27 goals in their first six games.

It was one of those days when little went right for the home side in an all-round poor display that had manager Paul Johnson thinking that they were fortunate to come out of the game with anything at all, writes Lloyd Harmston.

"Somehow we just did not perform, in fact it really was quite woeful. Even when we went two goals up inside the opening 15 minutes we did not deserve it, with Boston having already looked like the better side," said the Horncastle boss.

"Having said that, I did not think that our visitors played like a team at the foot of the table, but even then, on our day we would still have expected to do much better than this. It was a day to forget."

Two early goals from Terry Marshall, his tally moving to five in three starts, looked to be setting Town on their way despite their otherwise shaky play.

Boston had to play the first half with a temporary goalkeeper, as their regular custodian was late in arriving. Apart from the fact that he had to pick the ball out of the net twice early on, he was simply not troubled during his 45 minute tenure.

Boston pulled a goal back, with Town holding on up to the break. They came out for the second half believing that it must surely improve for the second period, and that they could not possibly play as badly again.

They did just that, continuing to operate at well below full measure, with little or nothing going right. The visitors then earned their just reward with an equaliser some 20 minutes from the end, and came close to snatching the win.

Horncastle now stand in 10th place in the table on 16 teams.

It will most certainly be a tougher test for Paul Johnson's side this Saturday as they make the always tricky trip to Hykeham and their tight pitch.

Front-runner Michael Harness continues to be unavailable, but Tommy Chalk is back in the squad.