St Ives Town staged a second-half recovery which culminated in a stoppage-time leveller yesterday.

The Saints wiped out a two-goal interval deficit when earning another valuable Southern League Premier Division point in a 2-2 draw at Frome.

Manager Ricky Marheineke praised the character of his side after Josh Dawkin struck with seconds to spare in Somerset, but the Saints chief was quick to admit his team need to stop making life hard for themselves.

Marheineke said: “I was very disappointed that we came in 2-0 down at half-time after conceding from a set-play and due to a basic defensive error.

“We can’t afford to give teams a head start at this level, but we responded very well in the second half.

“We got the best out of the game that we could considering the position we found ourselves in at half-time – and we did that.

“We carried plenty of attacking threat. Our widemen and forwards were outstanding at times.

“We have been conceding too many goals as a team of late and that has to stop.

“It is very difficult to win games of football at this level when leaking two or more goals.

“We’ve found ourselves having to chase games and come from behind to get back into games.

“Players showed great character to keep going and we got our reward with the equaliser in stoppage time.”

Danny Kelly was close with a couple of early opportunities for Saints, but it was the hosts who struck the opener when Sam Teale prodded past Tim Trebes in the 10th minute.

Trebes was soon beaten again by a shot from Mickey Bryant, but the base of a post came to Saints’ rescue.

There was no reprieve, though, when Frome did succeed in doubling their advantage through a fierce 28th minute finish from George Miller, but the two-goal cushion disappeared as Saints battled back to level after the break.

Skipper Charlie De’Ath halved the arrears midway through the second period after fine work from Jared Cunniff.

Tom McGowan almost made a dramatic return from injury when firing a shot straight at Frome goalkeeper Kyle Phillips only two minutes after being introduced as a substitute.

But Saints had to wait until the dying seconds to strike again as a deflected effort from top-scorer Dawkin nestled in the bottom corner and ensured the spoils were shared.

The draw lifted Saints up a place to 11th in the Premier Division standings.

They go to Eynesbury Rovers on Tuesday in a Hunts Senior Cup semi-final which was postponed last week.