TENBURY’S football sides are hoping there will be more ding-dong derbies to look forward to after last weekend’s latest thrilling instalment.

Tenbury Town scored twice in the dying minutes to rescue a 3-3 draw from 3-1 down at Tenbury United on Saturday.

But with Town rock-bottom of the table, on just four points from 14 games, and United just two places above them, the Herefordshire Premier status of both hangs in the balance.

Town are far more at risk of relegation but, despite seeing them cost his side points at the weekend, United joint-boss Nicky Stocker hopes they will survive.

Stocker said: “They usually say two go down but it very rarely happens that way because someone usually drops out. I’ve known it to be one down or even none.

“It would be nice if that happened because I can’t quite see Town getting out of the position they are in but I’d rather they stayed in this league.

“It’s good to play them, the derbies are always great games.”

Joint Town manager Keiran Fish – who scored a cracking free-kick to get his side back to 3-2 – admits it will be tough for his side to get the points they need but insists they will never give up.

Fish said: “It’s a long way back off the bottom but we are still going, we are still trying our best and as long as the boys give 100 per cent every game, that’s good enough for me.

“It’s tough for us to get a consistent side, with some of the boys working, but when we do, like on Saturday, we know we can give it a go.”

Town led early on as Ian Patterson poked home a loose ball but United levelled in controversial fashion as the referee blew for a penalty, only to play advantage and allow Aaron Morris to score.

After the break, a Morris penalty – awarded for a Zack Gittens handball – made it 2-1 and when Chris Patton squared for Mark Boucker to tap home the third, it looked game over.

However, Fish slammed home a stunning free-kick to give Town hope and Patterson nodded home in injury time to level.

Fish was sent off for a second bookable offence as he took off his shirt to celebrate but laughed: “I didn’t care! It was absolute scenes – we were all shaking because of the adrenaline.

“We celebrated like it was a win. We deserved at least a draw and perhaps deserved to win.”

Stocker – whose United side visit third-placed Ledbury Town this weekend – did not refute that, admitting: “They were probably the better side, we just couldn’t get going.

“But we are five games unbeaten now after such a poor start to the season and we could have gone up to eighth with a win so we do feel it’s coming together.

“We were disappointed not to get a result that, on paper, we should have got but it doesn’t work out like that in local derbies.”