Winchester City were left to rue missed chances as Blackfield & Langley came from behind to draw 2-2 at the Denplan City Ground in a mesmerising battle of the big guns in the Sydenhams Premier Division on Saturday.

A Warren Bentley goal in both halves saw City take a 2-0 lead, which they could have easily built on were it not for the heroics of Gareth Barfoot, the Watersiders’ goalkeeper, who kept his side in the game with a number of brilliant saves, writes PETER HOWARD.

Those heroics included palming away Zach Glasspool’s powerful shot from the edge of the box in the first half and then thwarting the striker again from the penalty spot with his side two down.

That provided a base for John Robson’s outfit to comeback through Jake Rowley and Jamie Musselwhite’s effort 20 minutes from time.

The final stages were enthralling as both sides looked for the win. The game was a real advert for the Wessex Premier on, of all of days, Non-League Day, with a crowd of 215 going home thoroughly entertained .

Robson set up his team up with an attacking look. It was spearheaded by Musselwhite with Rowley, Ekow Elliott and Danny Young sitting just behind in the attacking midfield. And they looked more potent in the early stages.

On 13 minutes Elliott and Rowley linked well before Michael Durdey – playing as defensive midfielder – knocked a hopeful chip into the path of the rapid Young, whose shot was blocked.

City, although under pressure in the early stages, had chances of their own.

Bentley tried a cheeky free kick from range that almost caught out Blackfield stopper Barfoot and on 23 minutes Zach Glasspool drew the first applause from the Denplan faithful as he turned Ben Kelly and shot wide from just outside the box.

Barfoot was called into action as a Bentley free kick was blocked by the wall and Glasspool was waiting to pounce on a follow up shot. He nailed powerfully at the keeper, who pulled off a superb theatrical save.

Winchester should have gone ahead on 33 minutes, except they seemed completely reluctant to shoot. Adam Tomasso played into Bentley, who decided to pass in a position where you’d expect him to shoot. Manning did the same and so did Glasspool before the ball eventually fell to Dominic Cope, but his shot was easily saved.

They made no mistake on 38 minutes as they netted the vital opener. Cope played in Bentley and the prolific striker calmly stroked to the right of Barfoot.

The second half ended frantically, but the early stages saw Winchester hitting their stride and they doubled their lead. It was Glasspool’s back heel that played in Bentley to slot home from just inside the box.

Winchester had their first penalty shout turned down as Kev Gibbens brought down Green.

The former Saints man wasn’t so lucky later though, as he was penalised for handling in the box on the hour mark.

The resulting spot kick was saved by Barfoot, who got down low to his left, and this was to prove a real turning point.

Six minutes later B&L were back in the game as Rowley darted off the wing and planted a low shot in the bottom left of the goal to make it 2-1.

With 20 minutes left the game was breathless and almost impossible to keep up with as it went end-to-end.

First sub Sam Wilson blasted over from in the box, then Musselwhite was on the end of sub Danilo Cadete’s cross to make it 2-2.

In the closing moments Ben Kelly’s header at the back post was deflected onto the Winch post, before being cleared.

It was a superb end and a thrilling encounter.