It was a bright start by Buxton at home to Curzon Ashton (Saturday August 19) with a well-taken 17th minute goal by Sam Smart (pictured), latching on to a through ball from Jake Hull before rounding the goalkeeper. A close-range chance was missed by Xander McBurnie five minutes later following strong approach work by Eoin McKeown and Zaine Francis-Angol.
The Bucks failed to build on the lead, nor create much more in the way of chances, however, and allowed the visitors to get back into a game that never gathered any kind of momentum. Curzon Ashton equalised 10 minutes from the end of normal time to take a point. Match Report HERE
Injury problems persist. Although Jak McCourt was able to resume his midfield duties after missing the Warrington game in midweek, Tommy Elliott was out of action for this Curzon Ashton encounter. Skipper Josh Granite and Sam Osborne are on the mend, but not yet ready for action.
Team Manager Craig Elliott was disappointed. He said: "Couldn't praise the team enough in the first half, playing good football and limiting the opponents to very little. Then we died in the second half, not sure why.
"We have players who are not at peak fitness for varying reasons but I'm not making excuses. We should have won that one today.
"We are starting to get players back, thankfully, and it will be good to have full selection choices. We want positive results now, to get the season started properly."
Next opportunity for the Bucks to hit a winning streak will be on Saturday, at home to Blyth Spartans, kick-off 3pm. They travel to Banbury United on Bank Holiday Monday, also for a 3pm start.