Radcliffe Borough ... 1 Chorley ...1by IAN HANNAY

BOROUGH are still searching for that elusive first home league win of the season after a host of spurned chances meant they had to settle for a point.

With Nicky Spooner unavailable and David Bean carrying an injury, Barrie Keeling retained his midfield spot and Tony Whealing was recalled at full-back.

Chorley were quickly into their stride, passing the ball confidently and closing Borough down quickly. Borough just couldn't win the ball and when they did have it they gave it away too easily.

Borough had an early scare when David Eatock collected a throw out from keeper Mark Molyneaux, sprinted 50 yards but then shot straight at Danny Hurst.

Having weathered the early storm, Borough began to get their act together, with Neill Hardy seeing a cross-shot drift wide and having a shot blocked in a goal-mouth scramble.

The game threatened to boil over in the 28th minute with Chorley player/manager Molyneaux lucky to escape with a yellow card after he left his area to engage in a bout of pushing and shoving.

The disturbance seemed to break the visitors' concentration and Borough capitalised to grab the lead in the 33rd minute.

Neill Hardy turned sharply on the left and his tantalizing shot was turned into his own net by Chorley defender Lee Southwood.

The lead lasted barely four minutes and bizarrely the equaliser came form another own goal.

The Borough defence went walk-about, leaving Anthony Hogan with a clear run on goal. Hogan appeared to drag his shot wide but the unfortunate Simon Kay turned the ball into the net as he attempted to get back.

Simon Kelly, Keeling and Hardy all went close and after the break, Jody Banim launched a one man assault on the Chorley goal.

As Borough stepped up the pace, Richard Battersby made some dangerous runs down the right and Keeling showed a willingness to get into the box.

The normally reliable Banim missed the best chance in the 69th minute. Hardy made a superb run and rolled the ball into Banim's path 15 yards out. Surprisingly, the Borough hit-man blazed the ball over the bar.

Chorley did get back into the game, with Darren Emmett a constant threat but both teams seemed to run out of ideas and eventually they had to settle for a share of the spoils.

BOROUGH: Hurst 7, Battersby 7, Whealing 7, Kelly 7, Diggle 7, Kay 7, Elliott 7 (Landon), Keeling 7, Hardy 7, Banim 7 (Grant), Price 7.