Sports boss salutes his players after an heroic Tuesday night shift

​Sports saw commanding centre-back Connor Johnson sent off for a wild first-minute challenge and on-loan Posh defender Ashton Fox dismissed rather more harshly with 10 minutes till to play for an alleged piece of serious foul play.

But despite those setbacks Sports held on for a valuable point against a team that beat hot title favourites Scunthorpe United last month.

The city side even led for three second-half minutes following Dan Lawlor’s goal, but it was still a superb bounceback after the disappointment of defeat at Rushall Olympic three days earlier.

It was also a confidence boost ahead of a tough trip to second-placed Tamworth on Saturday.

Sports go into that game in 19th, two places, but just one point, clear of the relegation zone.

Johnson and Fox are eligible for that match, but then face three game bans, although Sports might appeal the second red card.

"It was a great shift from everyone given the circumstances,” Sports joint-manager Michael Gash said.

"Obviously it was a massive blow to lose Connor so early. We know he’s an aggressive centre-back, but you have to realise you can’t win the ball sometimes and he was just too eager to get it back.

"Ashton just tripped their lad up. It was a professional foul, but hardly serious foul play. We will have to see what the referee’s report says, but we will probably appeal that one.

"The referee’s performance shouldn’t be allowed to take anything away from my players though.

"They played with great discipline and great spirit against a very good side. They had half chances, but they didn’t open us up and I can only remember our goalkeeper making one difficult save.

"We said at half-time we were well in the game and we could easily hurt them and nick a goal and we did. It’s just a shame we didn’t hold onto the lead for a bit longer as they might have started to panic.

"It’s a great point through. It’s a tough game for us on Saturday, but we will go there with confidence and if we work as hard as we did on Tuesday we can get a result.

Recent striker signing Harrison Nee is a doubt for Saturday after collecting an ankle injury against Curzon Ashton.

Central defenders Ryan Fryatt and Hayden Cann have a chance of returning to the squad.