Hopesgate 1 Clee Hill 1

AFTER having the better of the first half, Hill were forced to defend in the second, but coped well to take a hard-earned point from their opening Shropshire County Premier league fixture at Hopesgate.

After withstanding pressure the visitors fought back and took the lead when Nick Wilding netted with a 25-yard shot that went in off the cross-bar. They now enjoyed their best spell of the match with Liam Edwards forcing a couple of saves from the keeper.

Hopesgate pushed forward after the break. They equalised with a header and then forced Paul Jones to make a good save.

When he was beaten Jerry Preece helped him out by clearing off the line. Injuries forced Lee Martin and Dean Bounds to leave the field for the only downside on an otherwise satisfactory start to the season.