AFC TOTTON came away with a draw on the road from Bishop’s Cleeve today, but it was definitely a case of two points dropped.

The Stags played the bulk of the game against ten men after Cleeve goalkeeper Mat Wieczorek had been sent off and they even contrived to miss a late penalty in a wretched 0-0 stalemate at Kayte Lane.

The reverse fixture at the Testwood Stadium had produced the Stags’ biggest haul of the season, netting seven against the Gloucestershire side in the Southern One South & West.

But, on this occasion, the cutting edge was missing.

“It wasn’t the best game in the world to watch,” admitted Totton boss Steve Hollick. “The pitch and conditions didn’t lend themselves to a good game of football and we made the wrong decisions at the wrong times.”

Mark Lilley almost gave Totton the lead inside 30 seconds as his shot from distance was punched over the bar by Wieczorek. It was to be the closest they would get until the final minute of the game.

The Stags’ cause wasn’t helped when ex-Eastleigh midfielder Jack Alexander jarred his knee going in for a sliding tackle on the bobbly pitch, ending his afternoon prematurely as Jake Burgess entered the fray with just 20 minutes gone.

Moments later and chaos ensued when Totton forward Dylan Knight and keeper Wieczorek were locked in an aerial battle. Knight nudged him, but the Cleeve man retrieved the ball before rolling backwards and kicking the forward under the jaw.

Wieczorek was sent off and it was his replacement Sam Gilder who would emerge as the home side’s hero.

As the game ticked into its 92nd minute, Cleeve’s Aaron Drake was adjudged to have brought down Lilley in the area, prompting huge protests from the home side.

Former Wimborne hotshot Mark Gamble stepped up to spot but his penalty was smartly saved by Gilder and parried out for a corner.

That sparked the third brawl of an ill-tempered match with Lilley pushed to the ground by Cleeve substitute Shane Bumphrey, but the referee took no further action.

“You’d have put your house on Gambo scoring the penalty, but the keeper’s made a great save at full stretch,” rued Hollick.

“We’d have taken the win had that gone in, but it wouldn’t have glossed over the performance. It wasn’t the level of football I’d expect from one of my sides.”

Totton, 11th, have plenty of scope for improvement when they head to Marlow for another mid-table battle next Saturday.