Scarborough Athletic share the spoils against Nantwich Town

The visitors had the best of the early exchanges and Tommy Taylor was forced into an early save from a Sean Cooke effort.

It was then the Seadogs who were on the front foot, Ryan Watson with a sighter from distance which went high and wide.

And that proved to be some sighter after another slow couple of minutes, the wind really breaking up play.

With 40 minutes on the clock Watson stepped up and struck a perfect free-kick into the top corner, the ball getting stuck in the back of the net as it flew into the top right corner, making it two screamers in as many weeks for the Boro midfielder.

Into the second half and The Dabbers then started to dictate the play a little more, and their persistence paid off, Joe Mwasile bundling home from close range to get the visitors level just after the break.

As the game edged towards a conclusion, Boro had a massive shout for a penalty turned down when James Walshaw was felled in the box but the referee waved away their appeals for him to point to the spot.

Moments later Nantwich broke away and found themselves with a three-on-one advantage, but Boro keeper Taylor produced a fine save, and moments later again Taylor rushed off his line to deny Cooke again.

Cooke then sent a free-kick just wide of Taylor’s right hand post as the Dabbers went in search of the win.

As the game seemed to be fizzling to a relatively subdued conclusion, a mass confrontation after a Nantwich corner resulted in Joe Makin being shown a straight red card.

One-apiece is how it stayed which means just two points from nine in Darren Kelly’s absence.

Boro welcome back their manager to the dugout for the visit of a familiar face on the opposing bench next Saturday, as Steve Kittrick's Matlock Town visit the Flamingo Land Stadium.