Badshot Lea manager Gavin Smith was pleased with his side’s resilience after they twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at home to Thatcham Town in the Isthmian League South Central Division on Saturday afternoon.

The visitors took the lead in the ninth minute through David Nyarko’s smart finish after George Hedley had given the ball away in his own half.

The Baggies were quick to respond and equalised on 11 minutes through Hedley’s header from Cam Rohart-Brown’s corner.

Thatcham regained the lead in the 32nd minute when Nyarko scored his second of the afternoon with an impressive finish from a tight angle.

The Baggies equalised on 64 minutes when Steven Sylla laid the ball off to Baback Dehghani, who slotted it into the bottom corner.

The match was played in difficult conditions in driving wind and rain, and Smith was pleased with his side’s efforts.

“It was a horrendous day in the end – walking across the pitch was an eye opener,” said Smith.

“The game was in doubt. We did well to get it on – the volunteers did their job well.

“The pitch is in a right state and it was difficult to play. We’re pleased with the point after going behind twice.

“We gifted them a goal – we’re disappointed with how we’ve conceded because we know we should be doing better than that.

“We can keep making excuses for the lads – we haven’t played much and we haven’t trained much – but some of the errors we shouldn’t be making.

“They don’t mean to do it, but we’ve got to cut that out of our game because we’re gifting teams goals. We just need to be match sharp again.

“It’s a difficult time. We couldn’t train on Thursday which didn’t help – our facility was closed. With nowhere else to go we had to turn up and hope we can put in a performance. Everyone’s a little bit rusty, if I’m honest.

“The effort’s there but the quality isn’t quite there at the minute – so I’m hoping with a run of games we can get back to where we were.

“The equaliser was a good header from George and a good response from him.

“I’d rather he didn’t score the header and it was 0-0 and he didn’t make the mistake – but he’s done well. It’s a good header and a good set piece, so we were pleased with that.

“And then we went 2-1 down. We had the ball on our left-hand side and there was a breakdown in the play.

“We committed bodies forward and it was one ball over the top. We’re disappointed with the fact we had a two-on-one – maybe George could have been slightly closer to Adam New.

“I actually thought George did enough to start with – but to be fair it’s a good finish. We know we could have done better.

“We came in at half-time and I didn’t say a lot because everything I was going to say was going to be negative. I let Victor Ocansey do the talking.

“We needed to be better in possession. We were giving the ball away far too easily – which when we commit like we do if it breaks down at any point teams are going to break on us.

“In the second half although it wasn’t brilliant we were definitely the better team in my opinion and I felt we might nick it.

“But a point’s a fair result and it’s another game where I’ve come away from it and thought the other team have probably deserved what they’ve got.

“Baback hit the target and it’s gone in – so to get back in the game was great.

“I’m disappointed that we haven’t gone on and got a winner but it’s a good point on the board for us.

“The conditions in the second half were horrendous.

“We didn’t see that coming because the forecast kept changing. It was terrible for both teams – the wind, the rain and the pitch cutting up.

“It was not a great spectacle – it was a bit back and forward with not much quality – but that happens in football.”

The Baggies gave a debut to new recruit Kareem Akinnibi, who came on early on for the injured Dwayne Clarke.

“Dwayne looks like he might be out for a while – which is disappointing,” said Smith.

“I thought Kareem looked lively – he looked strong. The more he plays, the better he’ll get.

“He’s going to have a positive impact.”