Reds hold Rovers to a Boxing Day derby draw

Barton Rovers 2 Leighton Town 2

A TOPSY-TURVY encounter saw Barton Rovers battle back from a goal down before being pegged back three minutes from time as they were held to a 2-2 home draw by Leighton Town in their Evo-Stik Southern League Division One Central derby on Monday.

The mild weather ensured that a home tie could be played at Sharpenhoe Road on Boxing Day for the first time since 2008 and this was rewarded with a good crowd wanting a decent game of football.

Rovers manager Dan Kennoy, though, was disappointed not to have collected all three points.

He said: “We missed an opportunity but we’ll learn from that I’m sure. We had fallen behind but we showed great character and belief to get a 2-1 lead.

“The final minutes showed we lacked the experience to see a game out. I include myself in that, but I know like the rest of the squad we’ll learn from it.

“We have to take the positives and continue to move forward.

“We’ve moved up a place in the league to 10th and stretched our form to only two defeats in 13 league games so we’ll go into our home New Year’s Eve fixture against Rugby Town with confidence.”

The game lived up to its billing with Barton unlucky not to take the spoils.

Rovers went 1-0 down from a great Leon Simpson strike on 54 minutes against the early run of play.

The equaliser came on 63 minutes though when Dave Parkinson drove home through a crowd of players from 18 yards.

Barton then took the lead on 84 minutes through substitute Russell Bull, but they were unable to hang on for all three points as Enzo Silvestri turned in an equaliser for Leighton three minutes from time after a goalmouth scramble.

Rovers’ home game against Rugby Town on Saturday kicks off at 3pm at Sharpenhoe Road and on Monday they visit St Neots Town.