MANAGER Stuart Henderson was happy with a point from Friday night’s 2-2 draw with Exmouth Town, despite his team being two goals ahead entering the final quarter of the match.

After slow starts in recent games against Bridport and Bridgwater United, the Lambs were keen to make a quick start to the game – and they got just that with Jake Miller opening the scoring in style.

He picked up Callum Watson’s pass, advanced forward and showed great feet to beat two men before firing a brilliant low shot into the bottom corner from 25 yards.

Exmouth came back and had the better of proceedings, but they could not find a way past Josh Oak, who was named man of the match, in the Tavi goal. And as the Lambs responded, they got a second just before half-time when Dan Kiota latched onto a Liam Prynn flick, got the better of a defender and then fired coolly past the goalkeeper.

The Lambs started the second half well as well, but could not add to their tally and Exmouth found a way back into the contest when Ben Steer finished off a move. Then, after the ball was lost in midfield ten minutes from time, Tavi were undone with a ball through to Morgan Cullen, who finished with aplomb.

Exmouth thought they had won in late on when Oak brilliantly pushed a long-range shot into the bar and then somehow clawed out the rebound. Exmouth were adamant the ball had crossed the line, but the officials said no, which meant the spoils were shared.  

“It was obviously disappointing to be 2-0 up with 20-odd minutes to go and get pegged back,” Henderson said. “We scored early and I thought Exmouth had a good 20-25 minute period and we scored against the run of play towards the end of the first half.

“For us to be 2-0 up, I think Exmouth probably felt that was harsh (on them) and I felt we had a couple of chances at 2-0 and we should have had a penalty, but the lad (Josh Parry) stayed on his feet and was too honest.

“Overall, I am disappointed, but I think it’s a good point because Exmouth will be up there.”

Henderson added: “Although we were 2-0 up at half-time, I don’t think we dominated it. I think they gave as good as they got. In the second half, the rain came down, the pitch got heavier and that probably suited them a little bit more.

“I was disappointed with the defending for the second goal and I thought our ball retention and game management could have been better.”

It was a second goal in a week for Kiota, though, while Miller’s strike was a goal of the season contender. Henderson added: “Dan’s a good finisher and it’s getting him into those areas. It was a nicely worked second goal, the keeper came out and it was a cool finish.

“I thought Jake had a really good game and worked hard in there. We are talking about him getting into more forward areas and he beat a couple of players, git his shot off and it was a great finish.”