How David Batch must yearn for a selection headache of a happy kind.

The St Neots Town manager has seen his squad plagued by injuries throughout the current Southern League Premier Division campaign.

And, after some brief respite in recent weeks, the problems have reared their ugly heads again.

Saints were without five first-choice players – three due to injury - when held to a 1-1 derby draw by struggling Histon on Tuesday night.

They pressed another man – Adam Tann - into action through the pain of a cartilage tear and selected another – Remy Gordon - for his first start since August after a broken leg

Such was the shortage of personnel that Batch threw on youngster Chris Lewis for a debut as a late substitute without ever having seen him play before!

Isaac Galliford earned and converted the penalty which put the weakened hosts ahead just before the half-hour at the Premier Plus Stadium.

But they were pegged back late in the opening period by a player who shot to prominence a couple of miles away.

Jordan Nicholson, a prolific player for Eynesbury Rovers last term, levelled for his current club with a classy finish.

Batch said: “I don’t think I would have settled for a point before kick-off - even taking the injuries and unavailability into account – so I’m not delighted it about it afterwards either.

“We looked quite bright in the first half and were camped in their final third for pretty much the entire 45 minutes.

“We should have turned the screw more when we were ahead and on top to come in at the break a couple of goals to the good rather than finding ourselves level.

“But we let them off the hook to some extent and we simply ran out of energy in the second half.

“That was understandable when you have people like Adam playing through a torn cartilage and Remy having only played 10 minutes after coming back from a broken leg.

“I had to stick young CJ (Lewis) on without ever having seen him play before, but that’s the sort of situation we were in.

“I was pleased we were not facing a side higher up the table given the strength of the side we were able to put out.”

But they will encounter tougher opposition tomorrow when hosting Kettering, 3pm.

The Poppies will roll into the Premier Plus Stadium a couple of places and points better off than Saints in mid-table.

Defender Mat Mitchel-King does return after being away on business in midweek while top-scorer Tom Meechan is also available after serving a three match suspension.

The 20-goal hot-shot’s return is offset by the loss of another top attacker though with Ryan Hawkins now banned.

Frontman Drew Roberts, and centre-backs Tom Ward and Shane Blackett are still expected to be out.

Batch added: “It is going to be a really tough game and we are going to have to dig a result out.”