Bishop Auckland 1 Lancaster City 1 LANCASTER City fans must be wondering where the goals are going to come from after goal machine Peter Thomson's supposed replacement left for Blackpool this week.

They certainly could have used some extra firepower last weekend when they failed to win in the league for the twelfth game in a row at Bishop Aukland. It was a match they dominated and that bodes well for Saturday's trip to Marine - if only they can finish their chances.

Manager Alan Tinsley found it hard to disguise his disappointment that his team didn't secure all three points: "That was the same side that played so well against Northampton in the cup, the only difference was we didn't have Peter Thomson up front. We should be looking forward to Saturday's game having had three easy points in the bag."

Strong winds and a weathered pitch contrived to make this a scrappy encounter. City defended stoutly and had Diggle, Barnes, or Stuart Gelling converted any of their opportunities they would have come away with all three points. As it was it took a cracker of a goal in the dying minutes from Dean Martin to rescue a point.

It could have been so different. Stuart Diggle missed the target after finding space in the penalty area in the first minute of the match. Diggle also forced two good saves from Bishop 'keeper Steve Jones in the first half despite the wind blowing in City's faces and an uphill slope to combat. The only serious threat from the home side was from corners but even then there seemed little danger of a goal.

Despite a good first half performance, City came out after the break and simply couldn't find their form for a twenty minute period which resulted in a goal for the County Durham club.

City turned up the heat after this and carved out three good chances which Barnes, Diggle and Gelling failed to convert. It looked as if it was going to be one of those days until the last minute when a nice ball from Crompton was flicked by Flannery into the path of Dean Martin on the edge of the penalty area. His spectacular volley left Jones with no chance as it curled into the corner of the net.

City must have wished the game could have gone on for ten more minutes but the final whistle came too quickly for them to score a winner.

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