PAULTON Rovers picked up their first point of the season with an improved performance in a goalless home draw against Hartpury in Division One South of the Southern League, writes Jon Green.

After two extremely tough opening away games, Rovers were looking forward to playing in front of their own supporters again and putting together a performance that had been lacking so far. And the early signs were good.

The hosts played some neat football in the opposition half but didn’t create a good chance until the 14th minute when Krystian Woods delivered a cross from the right that found Martin Lenihan waiting at the back post. His first time shot had to be well saved by the Hartpury keeper.

But the early promise seemed to evaporate somewhat as the visitors started to pick up more of the possession. Rovers seemed to sit deeper and deeper and invited pressure. Hartpury tested Archie Matthews in the Paulton net several times but he didn’t have to work too hard to stop the shots.

Rovers looked a little jittery towards the end of the half but in the last game they conceded late after defending well for 42 minutes and it seemed like that was sticking in some of the players minds. However, they remained solid and went in tied at half time.

The hosts came out the blocks in the second half though and looked much more like the team that started the first half so well. The first big chance came in the 61st minute when Woods fed Tom Beeson in the area but his shot went just over.

Possession for most of the half remained very even but this time Rovers restricted Hartpury better and they struggled to get the openings they had in the first half. Although they should have gone ahead late in the half when a shot from the right was stopped on the line which was followed by a scramble but somehow the ball stayed out.

A scoreless draw was looking the most likely result but in added time Kaden Traynor headed a Martin Lenihan freekick goalwards with the keeper just tipping it over the bar.

Honours were even at the end of the game and most supporters would have left the ground thinking that it was a fair result. Certainly from a Paulton point of view, there was lots of good stuff to take away from the match.