(from haverhillecho.co.uk)

HAVERHILL Rovers earned a valuable point at a strong Histon Reserves side, sporting many Blue Square Premier standard players.

Jamie Challis' first goal of the season gave Haverhill the lead on the stroke of half time but second half Histon pressure told when captain Neil Andrews levelled on the hour mark and substitute Callum Stewart gave them the lead three minutes later.

But Shaun Banham sent goalkeeper Joe Welch the wrong way from the penalty spot after being clipped in the box by Stewart to give Rovers a share of the spoils.

The game flowed from end-to-end, particularly in the first half with the returning Neil Cogger giving the Histon defence problems while Lee Roache kept man of the match Neil Hammond and defensive partner Sam Holmes busy all evening.

Holmes threw himself in the way of Roache's shot before Banham had the ball in the net, only to see it ruled out for offside.

Nathaniel Knight-Percival headed against the bar for Histon but Cogger had the best chance after being released by the impressive Louis Harper, but the forward's one-on-one was just kept out by Welch.

Knight-Percival missed a great chance to give Histon the lead and Rovers keeper Ed Campbell had to be on his guard to make a fine one-handed save from Andrew Tidswell.

But just seconds after that Campbell save, Rovers were celebrating going in front when Harper showed good feet to create Challis some space and the latter's shot deflected beyond the reach of Welch and into the bottom right-hand corner on the stroke of half time.

Histon improved a lot after the break and after Campbell had denied Roache, Andrews levelled after latching on to Craig Pope's deflected shot and tucking the ball past Campbell from six yards.

Sub Stewart thumped a low shot into the bottom left corner from the edge of the area to complete Histon's turnaround and it looked as if they might get more.

But a great break involving Harper, Challis and a surging run from Harry Halls led to Banham being clipped in the penalty area by Stewart.

The Rovers striker took the kick himself and sent Welch the wrong way to level things up.

Craig Cutts nearly won it for Haverhill when he looped a header onto the roof of the net nine minutes from time while Histon could have snatched the points even later but Tidswell's volley was kept out by a combination of Campbell and Joe Harvey.

ROVERS : Ed Campbell, Gareth Thomas, Sam Holmes, Neil Hammond, Luke Hughes, Louis Harper, Joe Harvey, Stuart Kingham, Jamie Challis, Shaun Banham, Neil Cogger.
Subs : Harry Halls (for Gareth Thomas, 66), Craig Cutts (for Neil Cogger, 72), Andy Hughes (for Shaun Banham, 80), Martin Westcott, Ross Elkins.
Goals : Jamie Challis (45), Shaun Banham (??).
Bookings : None.
Red cards : None.