Chippenham Town were forced to settle for a point earlier today as they were held by a determined Banbury United.

The Bluebirds dominated possession for large spells but the hosts gave little away in a tight, edgy encounter that produced few goal-scoring opportunities for either side.

The first real chance of the match came 13 minutes in when Banbury’s Dior Angus collected the ball in a good position from Wes Emery’s free-kick, but blazed over the bar when he should have tested Kevin Sawyer in the Chippenham goal.

But a minute later, the Puritans took the lead when tall striker Ricky Johnson latched on to a through pass and held off the attentions of Steve Casey before side-footing into the bottom corner.

Alan Griffin saw a weak effort easily gathered by Banbury keeper Andy Kemp and the Bluebirds created their best chance of the half 27 minutes in, when Luke Gullick took the ball off the feet of Griffin and drove into the box.

The Chippenham winger delayed the shot but saw his effort knocked away by the feet of goalie Kemp.

At the other end, Danny Edmond skewed a shot wide on the stroke of half-time as the home side went in a goal to the good.

Adie Mings’ men had the lion’s share of possession in the second period but hard-working Banbury made every effort to deny them any chances to get back in the game.

And when the Bluebirds did finally threaten the Pilgrims’ goal on 63 minutes, they levelled the scores.

James Guthrie latched onto a cross-field ball and left right-back Joe Coleman for dead as he flicked over the Banbury man’s head before driving towards the byline.

The Chippenham winger then drilled a low cross across the face of goal and Griffin came through a clutch of bodies to scramble the ball into the net.

Almost 15 minutes later, Banbury keeper Kemp dived bravely to gather at the feet of Dave Gilroy when he was found by Griffin and as Mings’ side went searching for the winner, their best chance came eight minutes from time.

Substitute Ross Stearn and Griffin combined to set up onrushing skipper Ashley Williams, who hit a powerful left-footed shot from just outside the area but the effort flew across the face of goal and out to safety.

In the dying moments, the hosts’ Ryan Howell could have won it when he got on the end of Simeon Williams’ pass and was unmarked in the area but the Banbury substitute got his touch all wrong and saw the ball trickle out for a goal kick.

CHIPPENHAM TOWN: Kevin Sawyer, Iain Harvey, Shaun Lamb, Ashley Williams, Steve Casey, Nathan Rudge, Scott Lye, Luke Gullick (Ross Stearn 62), Dave Gilroy, Alan Griffin, James Guthrie.

Subs not used: Ian Herring, Alex Kite, Mani Randhawa, Richard Evans.

Attendance: 201