Scott Duxbury was the hero on the night as his 86th minute equaliser meant the spoils were shared with Curzon Ashton, a side who defeated the Boro only ten days earlier, earning a point after an encouraging performance against a team pushing for a play-off place.

Bernard and Jonno made one change to the side that collected maximum points at Warrington Town last Saturday, seeing Brad Jackson return from suspension in place of Olly Thornley who missed out due to injury.

Radcliffe started the evening’s action with a spring in their step, controlling possession before Curzon Ashton missed a golden opportunity against the run of play, as Isaac Buckley-Ricketts cleared the crossbar with his shot from a promising position.

On 17 minutes, Brad Roscoe looked to replicate his goal at the Tameside Stadium earlier in the campaign with a header which crashed off the right post via Tom Walker’s set piece, and Matt Sargent was brought to ground in the box moments later, the referee deemed it to be lawful however.

Buckley-Ricketts remained at the epicentre of the hosts’ attacks but he continued to miss the target when taking aim, before Adam Barton was sent in behind from a good pass, Mateusz Hewelt was on hand to deflect behind with the angle in the goalkeeper’s favour.

The half-time whistle blew with the scoreline all square after 45 minutes, but there were encouraging signs for Radcliffe who’d more than matched their Tameside counterparts at that stage.

However, after only entering the field two minutes earlier, former Macclesfield forward Alex Curran put Curzon Ashton ahead. James Spencer’s flick deflected off the chest of Lois Maynard, allowing the ball to fall perfectly for Curran who fired into the top right corner of the net from just inside the 18-yard area.

Now on the back foot, the Boro set out to restore parity and came inches away from doing so only seconds later. Scott Duxbury’s driving run down the left channel allowed him to bypass a number of blue shirts to open up a pocket of space for a shot, poking inches wide of the target.

Craig Mahon’s side almost made it two had Roscoe not been alert to the oncoming danger, his last ditch tackle sent the ball away from Stefan Mols who was played through one-on-one but was denied by the evening’s best piece of defending after 65 minutes.

Time was running out for Radcliffe who were applying the pressure but they couldn’t break the Curzon Ashton defence for a large spell in the second half, but on the 86-minute mark, bedlam ensued in the Boro away end as the visitors levelled up the match.

A late challenge on Walker gave the 29-year-old an opportunity to deliver from a danger area, his in-swinging cross was placed perfectly onto the head of Duxbury who nodded into the bottom right corner and quickly sprinted away in celebration as the Radcliffe fans cheered.

Despite their efforts, there wasn’t enough time for Bernard and Jonno’s side to snatch a winner in the dying moments, as the game ended a goal and a point a-piece at the Tameside Stadium.

Radcliffe will return to home soil this Saturday for Non-League Day as we welcome Brackley Town to the Neuven Stadium, take advantage of our ‘footy for a fiver’ campaign and back the Boro in search of another league double!

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