MOTORWAY snarl ups, a consequential late arrival and two goals down inside ten minutes. It certainly had all the makings of a day of misery for Winchester on the banks of the Medway estuary at Holcombe....

But the newly promoted South League Premier Division 2 side showed plenty of character and fought back to return from their North Kent visit with a point from an eventual 2-2 draw, writes Mike Vimpany.

Several Winchester players had still to arrive when Holcombe took a penalty corner lead after barely 30 seconds – Hamble recruit Nick Williams deflecting a shot from Linden Lockhart into the roof of his own net.

Worse was to follow, with Luke Smithard doubling Holcombe’s lead from a second penalty corner.

But then the cavalry arrived – in the form of skipper Kevin Boniface’s late arriving car.

Coincidentally, Boniface’s delayed arrival transformed Winchester, who began to boss the midfield and claw a goal back before half-time.

The evergreen Chris Jackson was the provider, playing a precise pass to Kent Langridge, whose touch was just enough to beat the despairing Holcombe goalkeeper.

Now in the ascendency, Winchester continued on the front foot, but a yellow card shown to Craig Jeffery forced the visitors to consolidate for a period.

Once back to their full quota, Winchester started to make some inroads into the Holcombe defence and a well won penalty corner allowed teenage Welshman Scott Rawlings to place a drag flick beyond the keeper’s reach and make it 2-2.

Winchester soaked up Holcombe pressure for the last ten minutes, but with Eddie Cooke in prime form, they held on to a point which didn’t look coming after those opening ten minutes.

Skipper Boniface, who generously agreed to meet the team fines after being last to arrive, had mixed emotions after the game.

He said: "I thought the lads played well and we put in a solid performance against a good side. I'm a bit disappointed that we've been asked to come from behind for a second consecutive week, but we only have ourselves to blame for that.

“On another day I think we could have come away with three points but it's going to be a long, hard season and you've got to pick up points where you can."

Elsewhere, Winchester II came from behind to beat Hampshire League rivals University of Portsmouth 2-1 through Stuart Swift and Tom Bolam. The academy side lost 4-0 to Basingstoke.