There was nothing to separate Stanway Rovers and Wivenhoe Town as their Ridgeons League premier division derby clash ended in a 1-1 draw at the Hawthorns.

This feisty encounter had much that one would expect from a meeting of local rivals, apart from one crucial ingredient – quality.

Neither team were anywhere close to their best over the 90 minutes and a draw was perhaps the fairest outcome, but both had periods when they were on top.

The game was dedicated to the memory of Andy Holman and began with the crowd of 164 joining the players and officials in a minute’s applause in respect of the Stanway stalwart, who died recently after a long illness.

It was the visitors who settled quickest on a difficult surface and Stanway appeared unable to gain too much meaningful possession.

Wivenhoe could have taken advantage of their stronger start on 18 minutes when Tola Odedoyin struck the post with a first-time shot after the home defence had been opened up.

And the same player should have done better a few minutes later when his pace out-stripped the Rovers defence, but his control let him down and he fired well wide.

Stanway’s only real threat came from set pieces and Ross Norfolk had a good chance from a corner just before the break, but his header sailed tamely over the bar.

The visitors may have felt they deserved more from the first half, but they did get ahead within ten minutes of the restart.

A lofted free-kick into the Rovers area was poked home by Tom Cutts and the Dragons began to dream of ending their 13-game search for a win.

However, a moment of madness by left-back Pete Sansford left them with an uphill task.

Having been caught late in a challenge by Adam Brotherton, Sansford reacted by pushing the Stanway man over and was duly shown a straight red card.

The incident turned the game on its head and it was all Rovers from that point on as the Dragons dropped deep to try to defend their lead.

In the end, they had keeper Adam Wilding to thank for them getting anything from the game as he made several brilliant saves for his team.

When Ben Newson’s shot cannoned off the post in the 86th minute, one sensed that it would not be Stanway’s night.

However, the home striker turned provider two minutes later.

His ball from the left was not dealt with by the Wivenhoe defence and substitute Julian Simon-Parson forced it over the line for a deserved equaliser.

Stanway pushed hard for a winner and only another great save by Wilding prevented Newson from getting it, but the game was destined to end with neither taking the bragging rights.