Gritt at the double as United grab late draw

After a difficult time in pre-season and a defeat to Shoreham in the FA Cup last week, Mavericks boss Nigel Geary believes the late equaliser will do his squad the world of good.

He said: “We battled hard and deserved a draw against a very good Loxwood side, who will be up in the top seven or eight again this season.

“Going 2-1 down with just ten minutes to go, we had to pick ourselves up but the players showed a lot of character and created a couple of chances before Alfie scored with about 30 seconds to go.

“Confidence and team spirit has been a bit down but we’ve now drawn against a good side. Looking at the team I started with on Saturday, there was just one player who started that was with me when I first got the job two years ago.

“It’s a completely new side and it takes time to get a team spirit up and going. If you start winning games and getting good points, like we did on Saturday, it goes a long way to getting a good team spirit going.”

United took the lead on 12 minutes when Chamel Fenelon’s cross was driven home by Gritt into the top left-hand corner.

Aaron Hasan and Jamie Stideford defended well for the hosts but Loxwood levelled ten minutes before half-time. Dean Gilmour brought down a Loxwood player in the penalty area and Mark Pritchard-Cave scored from the spot.

The visitors went ahead with 11 minutes left when a header from a corner was going wide but ricocheted off another player into the path of Clyde Jacques, who swept the ball home.

Mavericks keeper Fraser Trigwell then made a terrific one-on-one save, before Stideford twice went close to levelling. United did equalise with time running out, though, as Matt Hards free kick reached Gritt at the back post and he made no mistake.

Geary said: “The turning point was Fraser’s save as that spurred us on to get the equaliser. It’s a good point to start with for us and we’re now away to Pagham tomorrow.

“It’s a notoriously tough place to go but we go there with nothing to lose. We were 2-0 down at half-time away to them last year and won 3-2, so who knows what will happen.”

UNITED: Trigwell; Punter, Gregory, Stideford, Hasan, Gilmour, Callaghan, Hards, Gritt, Goldson, Fenelon. Subs: Rose (Goldson 60), McKerhan (Gilmour 75), Wells (Fenelon 80), P.Elliott, Buckland.

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