STEVE Hollick banked his first point as interim AFC Totton manager with a 1-1 home draw against North Leigh.

But, by the goalkeeping coach’s own admission, it wasn’t the kind of advert he had hoped for as he looks to pin down the job on a permanent basis.

“It was good to get a point and we would have taken a draw before the game, but it was a real scrappy affair,” he said.

“It was nice to buck the trend of (eight straight) defeats, but there wasn’t a massive amount of football played by either side. It’s a bit of a shame the performance didn’t match the result.”

Totton’s afternoon got off to a promising start when Nathan Hurst toe-poked home from two yards after good work from striker Craig Feeney who had been quick to intercept a pass by visiting captain Stuart Hole.

But, come half-time, that lead had evaporated with Kieran Sanders robbing Stags midfielder Liam Gilbert and delivering low into the six-yard box for Zak Westlake to bundle in.

The Stags should really have regained the upper hand early in the second half when, following a lovely lay-off by Taylor Edwards, Feeney found himself through one-on-one only to hit his shot straight at ’keeper Matt Bullman.

North Leigh then wasted a good chance of their own when ex-Saints midfielder Callum McNish set up Jamie Cook who fired wide from eight yards when it looked easier to score.

While happy with the point, Hollick’s big regret was that the nature of the game meant Totton looked nowhere near as impressive as they had in an unlucky 1-0 defeat at Yate seven days earlier.

“It was quite a bruising contest, very stop-start with lots of niggly fouls,” he said.

“Because of that we didn’t play to our full potential.

“We worked very hard, defended well and put a decent shift in, but we couldn’t produce the slick football we’d played the week before.

“We got a lot of plaudits for our performance at Yate and it would have been nice to have got the same in front of our home supporters, but North Leigh turned it into a proper Southern League game and it doesn’t help that the ball’s bouncing around a lot now on the hard pitches.

“I thought we might have been undone by a sucker punch at the end, but we defended really well as two banks of four and were very organised. But, offensively, it wasn’t to be.”

Totton, still 16th, complete their Easter programme away at 20th-placed Fleet Town tomorrow afternoon (3pm).

Jamie Blackburn took a knock on Saturday but should be fit, but Joe Maxwell is unlikely to feature after injuring his knee in training last week.

Fleet – player-managed by former Stags midfielder Craig Davis – were boosted by Saturday’s 4-2 home win over Wimborne courtesy of Chris Hall, Ben White (2) and Davis (pen).