A LATE equaliser at Homers Heath meant Buckland Athletic had to settle for a 2-2 draw in their pre-season friendly against Bodmin Town last night.

The visitors from Peninsula Premier West were 2-0 down within half an hour thanks to goals from Nathan Cooper and Fraser Clark.

But one of the travelling side’s three trialists hit back before the break, with another finding the net against the run of play in injury time.

Buckland started the brighter of the two sides and it didn’t take long for their first clear sight of goal to materialise – Cooper shooting straight at Ollie Cheneweth after five minutes.

But a minute or so later the Bucks midfielder would redeem himself by slotting a calm finish past the Bodmin stopper after good work down the left.

Harry Ford took aim from 25 yards but his strike flew just the wrong side of the post, before Sonny Dover saw a chance go begging at the other end when he curled an effort over the bar.

Cooper was involved again in the 27th minute when Paul Froude’s side would ultimately double their lead.

The goalscorer saw a close-quarters attempt deflected wide, and from the resulting corner centre-half Clark slid in to extend his side’s advantage.

This seemed to shock Bodmin into action, with Dover soon finding himself one-on-one with Bucks right-back Joe Belsten and firing over.

Ten minutes before the break the Cornish side found their route back into the game when Sol Wheatley unselfishly squared the ball to Trialist C to guide home.

And they were very nearly level three minutes later when the same player forced Andy Collings to palm away his strike after being played clean through.

The second half was a more uneventful affair as Buckland dictated the possession – the main incident of note occurring when the hosts were denied what looked to be a clear penalty.

Cooper saw another attempt go wide and substitute Sol Barclay thumped the woodwork from the edge of the area as the game reached its dying stages.

But hopes for back-to-back pre-season wins for Buckland would be scuppered in time added on when Tyler Cove found Trialist B who squeezed the ball past sub keeper Dom Aplin.

Despite the late setback, Froude was content at full-time with how his side performed on the night.

‘I think we dominated the ball, particularly in the second half,’ he said. ‘Arguably that’s one of the clearest penalties I’ve seen not given, which I think the referee acknowledged but that doesn’t really help.

‘If we score that and go 3-1 up it becomes a little bit easier, but when you’re only one goal up you’re always running the risk of conceding like we did.

‘Ultimately the score doesn’t mean a thing, it’s just gaining more understanding of how we want to play and at times we were as good as I’ve seen us for a long time. There were a lot more positives than negatives.’

The draw means Buckland are unbeaten in both of their games following defeat in the opening pre-season fixture at Brixham. Cullompton were despatched 5-0 at Speeds Meadow on Saturday.

‘[Against Cullompton] we worked hard, earned the right to play and performed in a similar way to what we did tonight,’ Froude explained.

‘We dominated the ball, we created a lot of chances and carried on tonight in a similar vein.

‘Bodmin are a good team with some very good players, so we had to work hard and earn the right to play again, which we did.

‘The Brixham game – I don’t know where that came from. If we did need a kick up the backside then that was certainly it.

‘We were missing six or seven lads tonight and the young lads who came in did really well, like they did on Saturday. We’re in a really good place.’

Froude’s men will face a stern test this Saturday when they travel to face Southern League Premier side Dorchester Town.