James Scott’s clever header from a Tom Hazelwood corner ensured that Elston United gained a point from their first ever game in Division 1 of the Nottinghamshire Senior League. PMG Excel, who challenged for promotion to the Premier Division last season, proved strong opposition and Elston had to dig deep to fight back from a 2-1 deficit in an entertaining game.

Having started strongly with a couple of reasonable chances for Rui Thacker, Elston took the lead in the 12th minute. Niall Parsons won the ball in midfield before finding Scott whose incisive pass bisected the PMG defenders and allowed Will Veys to race into the box before shooting home with a low, left-foot drive.

As the first half wore on there were further chances for Elston. A left foot shot from Veys was tipped over the bar by the PMG keeper, while a 20-yard Scott shot struck the post before being cleared to safety. Even so, PMG were creating chances of their own and it required several pieces of strong defending from James Smith and Toby Craven to keep the PMG attackers at bay.

Five minutes before the interval, PMG’s pressure finally paid off when a cross from the left was turned in to the Elston goal despite the best efforts of Veys and Brad Musgrove. In the second half, while PMG’s talented left-winger was a constant threat, Elston worked hard to minimise the number of goal-scoring chances for the home side, although a 55th minute break from PMG led to hesitation in the Elston defence and the ball was volleyed into the Elston goal by the PMG striker.

Having worked so hard to limit PMG’s attack it might have been understandable if a few Elston heads had gone down following this setback, but the visitors responded positively. Scott was unlucky not to score from a Rui Thacker cross, but in the 63rd minute made no mistake to level the score.

There were further chances at both ends, with Toby Cullen and James Clarke both going close for Elston, but Martin Scott, Elston’s manager, will take a lot of positives from a hard-working display against strong opposition as the team seeks to compete at this new, higher level of football.

Elston United: Brad Musgrove, Archie Dillon (Curtis French 46), Toby Craven, James Smith, Tom Hazelwood, Niall Parsons (Xander Millar 66), Louis Cross (Sam Lloyd 46), Harry Johnson (Toby Cullen 66), James Scott, Will Veys, Rui Thacker (James Clarke, 66).