Atherstone Town bounced back from their disappointing FA Vase exit with a comeback 2-2 draw away at Studley on Monday night. 

After falling behind to two goals in the opening twenty minutes, Tom Smith pulled the Adders back into the contest before half time. 

Smith completed his brace in a second half dominated by Atherstone as Mitch Thomsons side displayed their powers of recovery. 

Next up for the Adders is a trip to Tividale on Saturday 16th. 

With the defeat to Abbey Hulton United still fresh in the mind, Atherstone Town travelled to Studley looking to put that game behind them as quickly as possible. However, missing some key players away from home against promotion rivals with one day of rest, they still faced a difficult task. 

Studley started the game much quicker and were swiftly rewarded with the first goal. A sweeping move down the right hand side saw Downing get in behind and dink a finish over the on rushing Finn Osborn. 

The hosts continued to press their early advantage and found themselves two goals ahead on the twenty mark, as Lees was on hand to hammer a ball into an empty net after an initial save from Osborn. At this stage it looked bleak for the Adders, but the tide of the game soon began to turn. 

Toby Nicoll found himself free on the right hand side, and his left footed cross was only half cleared by the Studley back line. Tom Smith was the man in the right place to fire the ball home on the volley from the edge of the box, halving the deficit. 

Atherstone stayed on the front foot, with Smith turning an effort onto the post following a Harvey Rhoades cross and Nicoll seeing a effort ricochet in a crowd of bodies. Nicoll would go close again before the half’s end, seeing a volley well saved by the keeper after Lewis Collins had set him up. 

Trailing at the break but having responded excellently to the early set backs, the Adders came out in the second looking to do what Studley had done at the start of the game. Atherstone started the second half, very brightly, and were soon rewarded with an equaliser. 

Winning the ball back high, Smith played a clever one two with Collins before sliding an effort underneath the keeper and into the back of the net. With tails well and truly up, the Adders slept themselves on the front foot and dominated the possession, looking for the goal to put themselves ahead. 

Collins went close to the third goal twice, once with a low free kick which was well saved and again with a strike from range that was pushed away. Quinn saw an effort deflected wide and Chris Cowley delivered some excellent crosses from left back as Atherstone looked for a hard fought winner. 

Some of an Adders persuasion thought Collins had delivered a late goal, however a effort deflected into the side netting. In the end, it was a point a piece after a highly entertaining game, between two teams who will have play off ambitions for the end of the season. 

The result means Atherstone sit in 10th place in the table, with 18 points out of 11 games. They do however have as many as 5 games in hand on some of the teams around them, and sit just 9 points outside of the top five. 

Next up for the Adders is a trip to take on Tividale on Saturday 16th, before they host Uttoxeter Town on Tuesday 19th November. With all eyes now on the league form and results, let’s get behind Mitch Thomsons men as they look to push as far as possible up the league table!