HARWICH and Parkeston drew 1-1 with Haverhill Borough, at the Gwinnell & Sons Royal Oak, writes TERRY FRANCIS.

The Shrimpers, who have appointed Sean Tynan as their new first-team manager, secured a point in their latest Thurlow Nunn League division one south match.

Harwich had given an excellent performance in midweek at Ipswich Wanderers to win a point but found themselves with five players from that line-up either unavailable or injured.

The gaps were filled by Reserves full-back Reece Harte, stalwart central defender Michael Murray, who has been playing veteran football, Finlay Caro returning, plus Rob Good and Matt Stace who were on the bench at Ipswich.

It was a big match for both clubs as they sought to keep away from the bottom of the league.

Haverhill took a tenth-minute lead when the ball was centred across the goal evading two defenders and leaving Louie Banham with a simple tap-in.

But within another ten minutes the Shrimpers were level when skipper Gareth Heath's pinpoint corner was bullet-headed home by Matt Stace.

With so many changes Harwich rose to the challenge, gave maximum effort backing each other up and the teams were evenly matched.

Both teams were going for a win in the second half and it became a nail-biting encounter, with chances at both ends.

For Harwich, Heath sent a hot-shot inches wide whilst at the other end, Shrimpers keeper Brad Cook made an acrobatic leap to turn a goalbound shot over the crossbar.

Harwich substitute Chris Stratton went close with a header that skimmed the bar.

The calm Michael Murray deserves special mention for coming to the aid of his old club and showing that he has lost none of his skill.

For the Harwich camp, it was satisfying that as at Ipswich, the never say die spirit within the club was evident and bodes well for the future ahead of Tynan's first away match at Park View, on Saturday.