TIVIDALE’S hopes of reigniting their survival fight were dashed as they conceded late on to draw 2-2 at Goole AFC last Saturday.

Goals from forwards Demetri Brown and Chris Sterling had given the visitors a 2-1 lead before the hosts struck a late leveller with the final kick of the game to rescue a point.

It means bottom side Tivi failed to make up ground on third-from-bottom Goole as time continues to run out on their chances of beating the drop.

However, club secretary Leon Murray says there were many positives to take from the performance and underlined the need for Dale to stay competitive until the end of the season.

“When we hit our second goal, that was our best spell of the game. If we could have got the third then it would have killed it off,” he said.

“But in the end we were under a lot of pressure once they came back into it and we couldn’t hold on.

“It was disappointing but probably a fair result.

“It was always going to be difficult for us to stay up, we knew that right at the start of the season. The important thing now is that we keep going, maintain our standards and stay competitive right until the end of the season.

“That could be a big factor for us moving forward and would bode well regardless of what division we are in.”

Meanwhile, forward Mark Danks has now left the club to join Romulus FC.

“You never like to lose people but you have to accept it will happen and just move on quickly,” added Murray.

“He (Danks) was one of our more experienced players in what is a young squad, but it means the door is now open for someone else to come in a make their mark.”

Recent arrival Sam Brooks has now moved on to Sutton Coldfield. The defender leaves after only featuring in four games for Tivi.

Manager Phil Male has boosted his ranks by bringing in former Burton Albion youth-team forward Ben Markell on loan from Solihull Moors.

Tivi are set to take on Spalding United at home this Saturday (3pm).

The fixture is the first of three successive games at The Beeches, with matches against Market Drayton Town and Stockbridge Park Steels to follow.

“Having three games at home gives us a chance to build on our recent form.,” added Murray. “We’ve had a lot of draws so our aim has to be to turn them into wins towards the end of the season.”