Robin Hood 1 Southampton Rangers 1

Robin Hood were held to their third straight draw and fourth in their five matches, although there was some relief last night at Goose Gosling Field when Jaylon Bather’s stoppage-time header preserved their unbeaten record in the league.

It was a deserved point in the end for Hood, who looked headed for their first defeat when Kieshon Wilson’s goal gave Rangers a surprise lead midway through the first half.

Hood were already down to ten men at that point after a straight red card shown to defender Dominique Williams for kicking Keedai Astwood in frustration as he retaliated to an earlier incident as Hood got set to take a corner.

Rangers capitalised seven minutes later when a through ball from Kamali Davis put Wilson clear of the defence as the Hood defence anticipated an offside flag. It stayed down and Wilson kept his composure to fire a low shot from the edge of the box inside goalkeeper Antwan Russell’s left-hand post.

Hood made a tactical switch minutes later, bringing on Liam Evans to fill in defence with midfielder Aaron Nelson taken off. And despite the disadvantage, Hood created the majority of the chances after that as Bather went close with a header after a corner.

The Bermuda defender went close again early in the second half when he got on the end of Lejaun Simmons’s free kick at the far post to force a good save from goalkeeper Shaquille Bean. At the other end, a quick break by Rangers saw Wilson break through before his shot was parried away by Russell.

Hood threw caution to the wind in the final 20 minutes, switching to a three-man defence as they kept pressing forward in search of the equaliser. Bean hurried out of his six-yard box to put in a timely challenge on Simmons as Hood was awarded just a corner.

However, Hood’s persistence finally paid off in stoppage time when they found the equaliser from another corner, with Bather scoring with a glancing header after the ball was knocked back into the middle when Rangers failed to clear the corner.

The point leaves Hood three points behind leaders North Village whom they play on Saturday at Bernard Park.

SCORERS

Robin Hood: Bather 90+1

Southampton: Wilson 24

TEAMS

Robin Hood (4-4-2): A Russell — C Castle (sub: J Pereira, 68), J Bather, D Williams, S Smith — P Parsons (sub: T Tyrell, 80), A Nelson (sub: L Evans, 27), C Ryan, T Goater — L Simmons, C Brangman. Substitutes not used: E Outerbridge, C Ricca. Booked: Goater. Sent off: Williams.

Southampton (4-4-2): S Bean — K Astwood, R Sampson, M Burch, M Nisbett-Tankard — Q Maynard, D Ming, K Davis, D Brangman — J Bassett, K Wilson. Substitutes not used: K Harrison, N Mello, S Hollis, R Simmons, M Jones. Booked: Burch.

Referee: L Christopher.