SALTASH United lost a goalkeeper through injury at half-time and had a player sent off late on but held on to take a precious point from their 11-hour day in Wiltshire.

Keeper Tyler Coombes suffered a head injury and had to be replaced for the second half by central defender Tyler Yendle, while Fin Wilkes saw red in the 77th minute for two yellow card offences.

But the Ashes, who had twice held the lead before being pegged back, enjoyed their long trip home to Cornwall with a point in the bag.

Manager Lee Britchford said: “It was a crazy 11-hour day and a crazy match to be honest, with a bit of a strong wind up there.

“We scored two goals, the first from Reece (Thomson) after good work by Kieran (O’Melia) and the second a penalty from Ben (Goulty), but they came back at us and it was 2-2 before half-time.

“Coombesie took a knock on the head and his safety and welfare is the main thing in those situations, so he had to come off at half-time and Tyler (Yendle) went in goal and he was superb really.

“When Fin was sent off, it left us down to 10 men for the last 15 to 20 minutes, it was a real backs to the wall job but the boys were outstanding in terms of how they stuck together and I was really pleased with a point in the end.

“We could have played better on the day but in terms of what happened during the game, with lots of curve balls thrown at us, we’re happy with the result.”

He added: “We now look forward to the FA Vase replay on Tuesday night, we’ll patch up the squad and go up to Bishops Lydeard hoping we can clinch a home tie with Launceston in the next round.”

The Ashes beat Bishops Lydeard 7-1 in the first qualifying round tie at Kimberley Stadium on August 23 but have been ordered to replay in Taunton after inadvertently naming an ineligible player on the bench in the original game.

At Bradford on Saturday, Reece Thomson swept Saltash ahead in the 14th minute, finishing off a chance created by the trickery and wing play of O’Melia.

Stan Pagett equalised two minutes later but the Ashes restored their lead after 26 minutes when Goulty made no mistake from the penalty spot.

Again the home side hit back fairly quickly, with a direct corner from Harvey Woods appearing to take a deflection into the net to make it 2-2 after 37 minutes.

Then came the injury to Coombes, who was replaced numerically by Max Everall as Yendle, only recently back from a serious knee injury, donned the keeper’s jersey for a long second half stint.

But by the end he was claiming a clean sheet and awarded the club’s man of the match as the Ashes held out.

SALTASH UNITED: Tyler Coombes (Max Everall, 46), Jack Jefford (Jayden Gilbert, 68), Tom Huyton, Ben Goulty, Tyler Yendle, Charlie Elkington, Kieran O’Melia, Fin Wilkes, Deacon Thomson, Reece Thomson (Joe Preece, 68), Freddy Tolcher (Rhys Connew, 59).

Ashes’ man-of-the-match: Tyler Yendle.