DOWNTON needed to bounce back from there loss in the week and were minutes away from sealing all three points against Alton.


Downton were back to there best with some excellent passing and created some good early chances. 


James Clarke made his return from injury and got himself straight into the action with some tidy work down the right. 


Matt Steer and Craig Tyson got there link up play working nicely and seemed to hold on to possession for lengthily periods giving Downton the chance to dominate much of the opening first half. 


But on 15 minutes it was a piece of magic from Louis Rendall, who fully deserved his first senior goal for the club. 


An excellent passing move from steer and Daniel Telfer saw Rendall pick up the ball on the left. He took one touch, looked up and crashed his shot into the top right to put the Robins in the lead. 


It was Downton all the way with more chances coming but failed to increase the scoreline.  


Alton started to play further up the park and forced a foul on the edge of the Downton box. 


Matt Bunyan stepped up and fired into what seemed to be an open net. 
Totally against the run of play Downton went in 1-1 at half-time.


The Robins came out in a vibrant mood and soon had the ball moving around nicely. 


Steer and Tyson again pulling the strings and Rendall's tireless shift gave Downton the upper hand. 


A decent through ball saw Declan McGregor in one on one in the early stages but the goalkeeper saved well. 


Almost immediately after Telfer found himself with only the goalkeeper to beat but shot wide of the woodwork. 


The next bit of action was costly to Downton when Nathan Stott went in for a 50-50 challenge and won the ball. 


The only one who thought otherwise was the referee and a straight red was shown in what seemed to be an unfair decision by the official. 


Downton were down to 10 men but this didn’t stop them launching waves of attacks. 


With 70 minutes gone Rendall struck again with an excellent individual goal, beating two players and unleashed a fierce shot into the bottom right taking the Robins into the lead. 


With only 10 minutes left and down to 10 men the Robins were stunned when Alton equalised from a rare attack.

 
A cross was not dealt with and Lewis Gunstone Grey at full stretch could only palm the ball into the path of oncoming Bunyan to level the scores.

 
Downton kept the pressure on and were going for the win and some desperate defending from Alton saw the skipper sent off for a second yellow making the final five minutes one way traffic for the Robins. 


A resulting corner saw the clearance land to Steers feet and his sweetly struck shot was hit with venom only for the Alton stopper to somehow get his fingertips to it and tipped it onto the bar. 


This was unfortunately the final kick of the game and again another entertaining afternoon at the Robins nest.  


Downton manager Ben Smith said: "Yet again we played some outstanding football and in spells we looked exceptional going forward but just didn’t take our chances to kill the game off.


"The lads worked there socks off and when we went down to 10 men everyone dug in and put a solid shift in which myself and Rich were delighted with.


"The two goals from Louis Rendall were fantastic, the lad hasn’t played much through injury and to come in at short notice and play like that was first class. His performance earned him today's man of the match.


"But going forward we had some great all round performances and the lads really stuck together as a team and sometimes that’s all you need to become a good side. Overall im disappointed not to win the game but pleased to see the lads play the way they did & put every ounce of energy into todays game."

Downton face Laverstock and Ford this evening in a Wiltshire Senior Cup tie.