Abingdon United gave Division 1 South & West champions Poole Town a fright before having to settle for a 1-1 draw in the Evo-Stik Southern League.

With Abingdon ravaged by injury, they were down to the bare bones with regular keeper James Foster playing left back and Rob Durrant between the sticks.

Durrant was called into action early on when he tipped Carl Preston’s effort over the bar.

United seemed a bit nervy and misplaced passes invited more pressure with Steve Devlin firing a shot wide for the hosts.

Gianluca Riccio was just unable to get a foot to Carl Self’s teasing cross before Poole keeper Keith Emmerson scooped the ball away for a corner.

And from the resulting flag-kick, Abingdon took the lead when Nick Christodolou stooped to knock the ball into the net.

Durrant then came to Abingdon’s rescue, flying across his goal to pluck out Michael Walker’s header, before Jacob Cane’s shot hit the bar with Durrant beaten.

Abingdon’s keeper was called into action again to save at Dan Cann’s feet, and a minute before half-time he arched backwards to turn away Emmerson’s shot.

The visitors’ brave resistance was finally broken in the 68th minute when Preston was brought down in the area by Gareth Thomas.

Although Durrant got a hand to Devlin’s spot-kick, he was unable to prevent it from going in.

Abingdon’s keeper wasn’t to be beaten again though, pulling off a good save from Cane.

And in the last minute, Christodolou almost grabbed a second for Abingdon with a shot which flew just past a post, while Emmerson had a goalbound shot deflected wide at the other end.

Abingdon Utd: Durrant, Baker, Foster, Halliday, Thomas, Evans, Riccio, Melledew, Self (Morgan 70), Christodolou, Davis. Subs not used: Bourne, Tucker.

Attendance: 344.