Bishop’s Stortford 2 Vauxhall Motors 2

THE Motormen fought back to from 2-0 down to earn a share of the spoils from an enthralling encounter at Rivacre Park.

Tom Rutter and Ashley Stott netted to complete the hosts’ recovery job on Saturday.

Carl Macauley’s men had a number of early chances with Rutter, Danny Fearnehough and Craig Mahon all going close.

Stortford, however, started to get a foothold on the game and took the lead after 30 minutes.

Good work on the right wing by Harry Baker saw him play the ball into the danger area for Matt Johnson, who turned his marker and blasted the ball beyond Zac Jones from six yards.

On 33 minutes, Lewis Spence found space on the left before hitting a fine left-footed effort from 18 yards which Jones did well to tip past the post to safety. Johnson took the resulting corner from the left and Sean Francis was left unmarked at the near post to head home and make it 2-0.

After the interval, Motors showed a marked improvement and reduced the deficit on 49 minutes when a Mike Burns corner was not cleared by the Stortford defence. Striker Rutter reacted quickest to turn and fire home from six yards for his ninth league goal of the season.

The equaliser came on 62 minutes when Rutter was hauled down in the area by Johnny Herd. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Ashley Stott stepped up to take the kick, calmly chipping the ball down the middle after keeper Luke Chambers had dived to his left.

Both sides had chances to win the game late on, but a draw was a fair result.

Vauxhall: Jones, Wainwright (Kocsis 46), Barnes, Hannigan, Nicholas, Fearnehough, Mahon, Noone, Rutter, Stott (Winslade 84), Burns. Subs: Martindale, Ellison. Attendance: 143.

Motors hosted Hyde in the Cheshire Senior Cup last night, a match played after the Pioneer had gone to press.