FC Isle of Man drew 2-2 with FC St Helens at the Bowl on Saturday evening as the Stripes staged a second-half comeback to claim a point.

The result ensures the Ravens extended their unbeaten run in the North West Counties Premier Division to two games as they try to move away from the league’s relegation zone after a poor start to the season.

Rick Holden’s side started brightly at the weekend and striker Joe Middleton had the first sight at goal inside the opening minutes, but his effort was saved by visiting keeper Joe Mason.

The latter was called into action again soon after when he denied Luke Booth from giving the Ravens the lead as he made another good save down to his left.

Despite that early pressure from the home teams, St Helens could have taken the lead from their first real attack of the game but Harry Scarborough was flagged offside after poking home from close range.

After Middleton was fouled, Mason made another great stop from the resulting free-kick as Karl Clark flicked on Sam Gelling’s whipped cross into the box.

But it wasn’t long before the deadlock was broken and it went the way of the hosts when Mason could do nothing to prevent Clark reacting quickest to head home after Higgins flicked on Whitley’s corner.

With momentum on their side, FC Isle of Man pushed forward and doubled their lead almost instantly as Whitley brilliantly picked out Higgins who ghosted into the area and headed past Mason to make it 2-0 to the home side at half-time.

The Stripes started the second half much brighter and pulled a goal back on 56 minutes when Harry Scarborough converted a cross from the left which left FC Isle of Man goalkeeper Mark Blair with no chance.

Much like the Ravens in the first half, St Helens scored twice in a matter of moments to restore match parity.

With the ball looking like it may have gone out of play on the left flank, nothing was given and when Blair came to collect the cross, he dropped it and fouled James Murphy to give away a penalty.

Scarborough stepped up and sent Blair the wrong way to make it 2-2 with 60 minutes on the clock.

Despite both sides having 30 minutes to find a breakthrough, neither ever really did as the game slowed down and both teams looked happy to settle for a draw.

The result leaves FC Isle of Man in 21st place on 11 points from 16 games, four points clear of the drop zone but having played more games than two of the three sides below them.

FC St Helens, meanwhile, drop a place down to ninth in the Premier Division table but are only five points adrift of the play-off places.

SAM TURTON

- FC Isle of Man are back in action again this weekend then they travel to Merseyside to take on City of Liverpool in Huyton on Saturday afternoon, kicking off at 3pm.

Their opponents are only one point and one place above the Ravens in the league.