Beesley lauds Yellows’ character after thrilling Spennymoor draw

Mark Beesley says he can’t praise his players enough for the way they dug deep to rescue a point at home to Spennymoor Town on Tuesday night.

The Yellows came from two goals behind twice on the night to snatch a point in the fifth minute of stoppage time and record their first draw of the National League North season.

On-loan South Shields forward Dylan Mottley-Henry came up with the telling late contribution, heading home Sean Williams’ corner from the right to make it 3-3.

The stoppage-time leveller was met with jubilant scenes from a healthy midweek crowd of 895, and the Yellows boss was left to highlight the resilience of his squad.

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“I think it’s the least we deserved, in my opinion,” Beesley said post-match.

“Today was more like us going forward. We spoke about it at the weekend, that we hadn’t scored in a few games. We created so many chances again today, hit the post and we should have had a blatant penalty – we’ll get one of them soon.

“I can’t praise the character of the lads enough because we’ve had a few knocks of late. You know, in the space a week, we’ve lost three.

“We’re not used to it, and confidence could have been down, but they rolled their sleeves up and had a right go. To come from 2-0 and 3-1 down against a good team like this, and to gain a point – it feels like a win.

“It’s not a win, but it’s a point on the board. I’m hoping it gives us a bit of a lift going into Saturday.”

Despite the positive nature of the point, Beesley has challenged his players to be better in their own defensive third when Saturday’s trip to Banbury United comes around.

Former Yellows loanee Will Harris broke the deadlock, and there were further goals for the visitors from Ben Pollock and Danny Greenfield either side of half-time.

Still, Beesley was pleased to see further shades of the side that sealed promotion from the Northern Premier League.

“We’ve been talking to the lads a lot about this. At times this season, it’s not going to be plain sailing,” Beesley admitted.

“We’ve got to keep going and we’ve got to have that belief in what we’re doing, that we’re doing the right things.

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“I thought our front three caused problems all night. They worked their socks off, two of them scored and Connor was outstanding as well.

“We’re trying to play the right way. At times we’ll get punished, a little bit like we did tonight, but I think everyone who was here tonight will have enjoyed it.

“That’s more like us. On the front foot, wanting to score goals.

“The big thing is keeping the back door shut, which we did last year. The quality of the opposition and the strikers especially are so much better in this league, and we’ve got to be switched on.”