Northwich Vics 2 Telford United 2

NORTHWICH ended their losing run, but a late penalty cost them all three points against Telford.

Jamie Collins, who has previously been on loan at the Drill Field from Crewe, started in midfield and there was also a place on the bench for Alan Brown, signed from Nantwich.

Vics got off to an ideal start when Mark Bailey's right foot, their most dangerous attacking weapon this season, provided a pinpoint cross and Gary Burke headed in.

This fourth minute strike seemed to reverse a recent trend where Vics have started badly before gradually gettingbetter, but unfortunately the early goal had the opposite effect.

Telford's front pairing of Jake Edwards and Mark Quayle began to cause problems and both had opportunities to equalize before Quayle eventually made it 1-1.

He coolly slid the ball past Paul Gibson after a mistake by Marcus Jones a minute before half-time.

The strikers' dominance continued into the second half as Vics' good early work disintegrated and they struggled to make any headway.

A poor header from Talbot let Quayle in again, but Gibson pulled off a great save to deny the forward a second.

Then in keeping with the pattern of the game, it was Edwards' turn next as he also raced clear, but his shot was kept out by the foot of the post.

Despite all this pressure, Vics manged to regain the lead totally against the run of play when, in the 74th minute, Steve Garvey hit a bolt out of the blue from 30 yards to make it 2-1.

Two minutes later it could have been three when player boss Jimmy Quinn failed to connect properly with a rebound off Ryan Price.

Vics threw away the full three points six minutes from time when Bailey bundled sub Peter Smith over in the box and Quayle slotted in the spot-kick.

Forest Green Rovers are next at the Drill Field in the Nationwide Conference on Saturday (3pm) before Vics travel to Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday (7.45pm).

Vics: Gibson, Bailey, Barnard, Jones, Burke, Talbot, Garvey, Collins, Blundell, Quinn, Devlin.