HIGHWORTH Town will have to try again on Tuesday night to reach the next round of the FA Trophy after a 1-1 draw with Cinderford Town at the weekend.

Ash Edenborough put the Worthians ahead after just seven minutes – a lead the home side held until 15 minutes after the break – but Cinderford struck back on the hour to ensure a replay in Gloucestershire this coming Tuesday.

Despite going ahead early on at the Save on Tyres Stadium, Highworth rode their luck until half-time as Connor Johns made a number of good saves to deny Cinderford an equaliser they probably deserved.

And Highworth boss Jeff Roberts tipped his cap to his ‘keeper for allowing his teammates to have another shot at making the next round in a replay in midweek.

Roberts said: “We had chances to win it late on – Darren Jeffries went through late on but probably had too much time and took too many touches.

“His angle was reduced and by that time he couldn’t really get a decent shot in, but we had a couple of other chances and we couldn’t take them.

“On the other hand, they had a couple of good opportunities too, but Connor Johns has made sure his positioning was ideal and that’s denied them.

“Connor was very good on Saturday.”

Following the 1-1 draw on Saturday, Roberts pulled no punches when reflecting on the performances of a handful of his players – saying some of them ‘didn’t do enough’.

But given his side – who haven’t won since beating Mangotsfield 1-0 in the Southern League Cup on September 11 – took a point against the team in fifth place, Roberts was pleased to have another chance to ‘right some wrongs’ when his side travel to Cinderford for the replay.

Roberts said: “I thought we played alright in bits and pieces – we kept possession quite well – but they were a lively side, very energetic.

“Overall, I thought we looked a bit jaded and there were a few players who didn’t really give us enough.

“It wasn’t the best I’ve seen us play, certainly, but if it was a league game, it might have been a decent point for us.

“But we’ve got a second bite at the cherry now and some people need to look at their game ahead of Tuesday night now.

“We’ve got a great opportunity to go down there and take the game to them because we certainly weren’t at our best on Saturday.”