Eccleshill United 1 Penistone Church 1

ECCLESHILL United went into Christmas on a positive note as they rescued a Northern Counties East League draw from a home fixture against a Penistone side that climbed to joint-top of Division One.

The Eagles' visitors moved level on points with pace-setters AFC Emley, who were Eccleshill's previous opponents.

After suffering a narrow defeat at Emley in a five-goal thriller at the weekend, Sean Regan's men fell behind to promotion-chasing Penistone in the early stages.

Lewis Dickinson scored after just 11 minutes as the home side began poorly but the Eagles had chances in that first half that went begging.

The hosts almost levelled in the 66th minute when a Luke Harrop effort struck a post – but they grabbed their equaliser just minutes later when Matt Mathers netted a back-post header.

Eccleshill remain 12th following the stalemate and their next game is the reverse fixture on Monday, January 2 at Penistone.