AFTER nearly a month on the road, Downton returned to the Nest and earned a point in a 3-3 draw against Whitchurch United.

The game started quickly and early on in the game Paul Gulliver opened the scoring for the Robins with a clinical finish.

He was again involved after being pulled down by the opposition keeper, the referee awarded the penalty and Ben Smith converted it calmly extending their lead to make it 2-0 after just twenty minutes.

However it wasn’t going to be all one way traffic and thanks to the second penalty of the game the visitors converted the spot kick just before the half time break.

This gave Whitchurch confidence and they came out all guns blazing in the second half, their pressure told on the Downton defence with the opposition making it 2-2 with an effort from 40 yards, before shortly adding another after beating the offside trap.

Downton were left in a difficult position trailing 3-2 with 25 minutes remaining.

But the Robins fought back into the game and pressed hard for the equaliser.

Smith came close to levelling the scores in the 75th minute, but failed to score/

But he managed to score the equaliser for Downton, scoring from the penalty spot after Craig Phillips had been tripped in the box.

Substitutes Shaun Prentice and Nathan Connelly were thrown into the mix in an attempt to find a winner, both had opportunities to score late on however it ended all square, leaving the Robins with just a single point to show for their endeavours, in a hard fought game.

Downton are currently tenth in the Sydenhams Division One on 16 points after ten games.

The Robins next game is away to Wellington AFC in the FA Vase on Saturday, October 21, followed by Poole Town in the Bournemouth Senior Cup on Tuesday, October 24.

With their next league game not until Saturday, October 28 which is away at Hythe & Dibden.