AFC Sudbury manager Marc Abbott praises ‘character and personality’ in battling 1-1 draw at Biggleswade Town

Manager Marc Abbott was pleased with the way that his AFC Sudbury side ground out a point at Biggleswade Town on Tuesday.

Heading into the contest against a team rooted to the foot of the Southern League Central Premier Division table, the Yellows will have viewed the clash as a good opportunity to collect all three points in their own bid for survival.

But on a bitterly cold evening in Bedfordshire, Abbott’s men found themselves 1-0 down at the break and when Ollie Peters saw an 83rd-minute penalty saved, they could have been forgiven for thinking it was not their night.

However, Sudbury continued to probe and their persistence was eventually rewarded two minutes from time when Liam Pearce fired in an equaliser to move his team to within a point of safety.

Abbott said: “Biggleswade had a good win at the weekend and they’ve beaten St Ives recently so we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game.

“We also knew that it was going to be tough to play our style of football on that pitch.

“And then when you go one down, miss a penalty and miss a couple of really good chances after that, it’s easy to think it won’t be your night.

“But the character and personality we showed to get something from the game was huge.

“We’ve got a lot of talented players but as everyone knows, football is a points business. We’ve got 39 left to play for and we’ve got to get the blend right between performances and a winning mentality.

“We showed something that we really needed to get the point and it was pleasing to see us grind it out. It turned what was going to be a negative night into a positive one.”

Focus now switches to Saturday’s home encounter against Barwell – a side level on points with Sudbury but one place below owing to their inferior goal difference.

A win for either team has the potential to lift them out of the relegation zone, but while the significance of that scenario cannot be downplayed, Abbott is well aware that there is still plenty of football left to be played.

“We love playing at home. It suits us and some opposition sides struggle to adapt to the pitch,” added Abbott, who saw his side lose narrowly 2-1 to table-topping Bedford Town at the weekend.

“It’s a big game of course, but even if we were to win it, unless we can be a bit more consistent with our results it will not mean too much.