On a bitterly cold, damp night at Adie Moran Park there may have been no goals to cheer for those who had braved the elements but there was plenty to enjoy in an absorbing, hard fought contest.

Heys and Emley are two of the form teams in the division, both pushing for promotion. Here, after the ground staff had done a great job in getting the game on, the two teams went toe to toe.

It was a game that ebbed and flowed. Both teams enjoyed spells in the ascendancy and will reflect on chances missed. In the end neither side could muster that little bit extra to take the points. In truth though a defeat would have been tough on either side.

Heys started the brighter, stretching the visitors down either flank and delivering some testing crosses. In the 8th minute they might have taken the lead, a deep curling cross from Dominik Williams picked out the run and head of Brad Sixsmith, whose header was sharply gathered by Emley keeper George Clarke.

Sixsmith was to test Clarke again in the 16th minute. Some slick passing through the middle ended with the Heys midfielders’ shot being gathered low down.

Emley responded. Conor Glavin put in a 20-yard shot that was held low by Russell Saunders. The Heys keeper then had to react quickly to claw an in-swinging corner from under the bar.

With Emley gaining the upper hand Robert Bordman found space but shot into the side netting.

A swashbuckling run by Zack Dale, that took him practically the length of the field, turned the momentum back towards Heys. Then, a similar energetic run and cross by the Heys man, low across the six-yard box, just evaded the outstretched legs of his incoming teammates.

It was the visitors who ended the half on top however and after Heys had failed to clear a corner, Saunders pulled off a close range save to keep out a Glavin shot.

On the restart it was Heys who were first out of the blocks. In the 47th minute, Joe Rothwell released Dale down the right who then cut inside before pulling his shot wide.

Seven minutes later a great ball in behind by Nathan Emery picked out the run of Dale, but Clarke was out quickly to block the shot.

Back came Emley, Saunders tipped over a sharp shot, on the turn by James Eyles. Then Finn Donovan saw a shot deflected over the bar before from the ensuing corner Tom Rose fired over.

As the game entered the final quarter of an hour, with the tension mounting both teams looked to break the deadlock.

The game flowed from end to end, but neither could find the key to unlock the others defence.

In the closing minutes, home hopes were raised. Two free kicks on the edge of the penalty box offered hope of a breakthrough. Dale’s first was blocked by a raised hand, his second cleared the bar.

Then, deep into added time, a misjudged through ball saw Jamie Sinnott, seemingly in the clear, with Dale coming up alongside him. The formers run was ended by a desperate trip that brought a yellow card and another free kick in a dangerous position, but Dale’s delivery was swiftly dealt with by the Emley defence.

Shortly after, the referee called a halt to proceedings with both sides having ran each other to a standstill.

TEAM: Russell Saunders, Dominik Williams, Nathan Emery, Greg Wills, Adrian Bellamy, Jacob Holt, Zack Dale, Joe Rothwell, Reece Lyndon, Brad Sixsmith, Will Shawcross, Subs: Jamie Sinnott (for Shawcross 74 mins), Francesco Frangillo (for Lyndon 63 mins), Oliver Hatfield-Banton, Cory Knight, Daniel Vinten (for Wills 86 mins)