THIS was not a match for the purists and the ball seemed to spend more time up in the air than anywhere else, but it may yet prove to be a valuable point in the Blues effort to stave off relegation.

Winsford got off to their usual poor start conceding a goal after just eight minutes. Lee Granell made a fingertip save from Dean Williams but from the resulting corner the ball was scrambled in by Andy Whitney.

he visitors piled on the pressure and looked likely to add to their total with the ball hitting the post on 20 minutes with Granell beaten.

The nearest Winsford came to scoring was on 42 minutes and ironically it was Alsager defender Kurt McCarthy who nearly beat Michael Langley with his back pass.

The second period started a little better with Les Miranda finding himself free on the left edge of the box but his shot was high and wide. Alsager in turn had a great chance when Mike Brandon’s cross found Dean Williams unmarked but his header was over bar. The same player missed an even easier chance two minutes later when a rebound left him with only Granell to beat but his lob was too high for the goalkeeper and the bar.

A fine save by Granell denied Whitney on 63 minutes and one minute later Lee Jones missed a free header right in front of goal.

Alsager were made to pay for their error one minute later when John Riley’s cross was scrambled in by Tony Sayer.

There then followed two long range shot by Jacob Baptista that Langley did well to keep out.

The closing minutes were end-to end with both keepers being called into action, Lee Granell tipping a looping deflected shot over the bar and Langley desperately scrambling across his line to watch a back pass from McCarthy go inches wide of the post.

United, who now have three games to save themselves from being dragged down into the Vodkat First Division, travel to Nelson on Saturday (3pm).

Attendance: 157.