Haywards Heath Town held to draw by VCD Athletic

The Blues started in determined mood, as they looked to put their disappointing Emirates FA Cup replay loss on Tuesday at Horsham behind them, by pinning VCD back in the early stage of the game.

It looked like the visitors were sure to open the scoring on two minutes as Gil Carvalho looked to put Byron Napper in, but a combination of delay and the VCD keeper, Sam Mott, kept the game scoreless.

That was only a short reprieve, however, as the bright start from the table toppers was rewarded soon after. Jerson Dos Santos found himself on the end of a pin point Napper cross and he headed home, beyond the flailing arms of Mott, in the home goal.

Instead of reeling from going behind so early, VCD bit back hard. Not to be denied, they forced two quick corners immediately from the restart and, from one of these, VCD defender, Jack Berry headed home to level the scores with only eight minutes on the clock.

Heath's apparent inability to defend set plays well must be beginning to irk Shaun Saunders, the Blues boss.

With big Nathan Cooper playing in midfield and with Tom Gilbert partnering Sinn Christie in the Heath back line, it was the respective midfields that battled for supremacy as the game went on.

The best of Haywards Heath came via Hamish Morrison and Carvalho down the team's right but they were finding the VCD defence very stubborn and awkward to penetrate.

Heath, protecting their 100 per cent winning league start, finished the half the better and a Carvalho corner was headed goalward by Cooper but Mott pushed the ball to safety, with the help of his crossbar.

The second half was drab and unexciting for the watching support and, with the sun out on a perfectly prepared pitch, it was difficult to see either side taking all three points on offer as the game wore on, heading for a stalemate.

Billy Collings saved well on 75 minutes, as he thwarted Youssef Bamba and, late on, his VCD teammate, Joe Bingham, headed against the Blues' crossbar, with Collings well beaten.

With neither side deserving the three points, the game fell away tamely to end 1-1.

Blues boss Saunders said, "With five games played in the last 15 days, it has been an intense start to the season but we have retained our unbeaten league record, netting 10 points from the possible 12 that were available.

"Today wasn't vintage but to come back with anything from the Kent clubs is good with me.

"We have one or two carrying niggles and a lot of tired limbs but we move on to Lancing on Tuesday before hosting an in-form, Ashford United, next Saturday. I've challenged the boys to take that unbeaten run to six games."