Hayes Town 1, Basingstoke Town 1

AFTER the exhilaration of the previous weekend's FA Cup victory, Basingstoke Town came down to earth with a bump and a poor performance against Hayes.

Despite the fact that it is still only November, Saturday's game at Church Road was being described by both clubs as a relegation six-pointer and the visitors looked set to come out on top when they went ahead just before the break.

However, a defensive lapse early in the second half allowed Hayes to draw level and, while both teams had opportunities to win the game, neither deserved to collect all three points.

Speaking after the game, Basingstoke manager Francis Vines could not hide his disappointment with the result.

"I am absolutely gutted," he said. "This was a game we could and should have won.

"We really needed something today, and should have done better. Yes, we haven't been beaten again, but that is not good enough any more. We need wins."

With Swindon Town recalling David Stroud and Ben Wells from their loan spells at the club and Robert Watkins serving a suspension for the red card he collected against Fisher Athletic, Vines was forced into making wholesale changes to the team that performed so heroically against Chesterfield.

Matt Warner replaced Watkins at left-back, with Simieon Howell returning to the right wing, Justyn McKay slotting into the centre of midfield and new signing Luke Townsend lining up on the left.

Neither team was really able to control the play during a forgettable first half but Town did enough to get themselves in front four minutes before the break.

A cross from Townsend, who had hit the top of the bar with a miss-hit centre early in the game, cleared everyone in the box apart from Howell, who was waiting unmarked at the far post.

He had time to take a touch before firing past the 'keeper from six yards out, giving his team a narrow half-time lead.

However, Hayes started the second period well and got themselves level after 49 minutes when a low cross from Gilbert Nuako found Kieran Knight six yards out with his back to goal.

The striker held off Joe Bruce before turning and firing a shot past Stuart Searle, a goal Vines thought should have been prevented.

"We should have stopped the cross coming in," he said. "Not doing that was lazy. We have got to keep working hard and, if we had done that, we would have been rewarded with a win today."

Encouraged by the goal, Hayes played some better football and had chances to take the lead.

Searle had to tip a Knight header over the bar and then had to be at his best to deny Michael Bartley when the striker was put clean through.

A clever ball over the top by Knight put Bartley in and he shrugged off a challenge from Warner before taking the ball past Searle. However, he took the ball a little wide and the 'keeper recovered well to block his goal-bound shot.

As the game went on, Basingstoke came back into it and had three good chances to steal the points.

Joe Dolan put a close-range header over the bar before Hayes 'keeper Kevin Davies denied substitute Neville Roach twice in the space of a minute.

A corner found Roach at the near post and his close-range shot was well blocked by Davies. The ball came out to Ben Surey on the left wing and his centre found the head of Roach, but again the 'keeper was equal to the effort and he pushed the ball around the post for a corner.

In the end, a draw was probably a fair result, but Town currently lie at the foot of the table and need to transfer their cup form into league wins fast.

Hayes: Kevin Davies, Adam Logie, Gilbert Nuako, Will Hendry. Orlando Jeffrey, Peter Collins, Daniel Dyer, Ryan Ashe (sub Joe Sparrowhawk 14min), Michael Bartley (Jon Dyer 76min), Kieran Knight, Liam Feeney. Subs (not used): Shaun McAuley, Josh Scott, Keita Karamoko.

Basingstoke Town: Stuart Searle, David Ray, Joe Bruce, Matt Warner, Joe Dolan, Justyn McKay, Simieon Howell, Ben Surey, Cristian Levis (sub Neville Roach 45min), James Taylor, Luke Townsend. Subs (not used): Jason Bristow, Francis Quarm, Joe Harris, Ben Wright.