Enniskillen Town came from behind to snatch a point against their local rivals, but the draw sees them slip further behind Strathroy at the top of the table, and manager Rory Judge has already conceded defeat in the fight for the league title.

“Strathroy will not be caught now,” he admitted. “They are not unbeatable and I would be confident that we could beat them, but we just have far too much ground to make up.” Reflecting on his side’s latest dropped points, Judge was left to rue a succession of missed chances in the first half.

“With our first half chances we should have been at least three goals to the good but it just didn’t transpire that way,” he said. “I don’t think we did enough in the second half to win it. The only positive I can take out of these games is that it is character building for the younger kids. They are tough games for them and they are being asked to grow up pretty quickly. We are improving a bit. We gifted four goals last week, and we only gifted two this week!” The point is a valuable one for Rangers in their battle to pull away from a closely packed group towards the lower half of the league table, but manager John Cutler was also thinking of what might have been.

“At 2-1 young Jamie McFarland was through and if he had scored we would have won,” he said. “A draw would maybe have been a fair reflection though. We had a lot of young boys involved and they showed well again. We are unbeaten in five now and that gives us something to build on. We have a few to come in and hopefully it is building well for the future.” Rangers started the game well and were in the ascendancy early on, and after 15 minutes they took the lead when Ben Brown powered in a header from a Stuart Rainey corner.

The goal sparked Town into life and after a good five minutes they converted the equaliser when Frank Wallace beat Sean Hynes before supplying Ciaran Brough, who shot across the keeper into the net.

Town twice appealed for penalties after two clashes with Brough, but the referee waved away the first claims, and on the second occasion awarded a free kick just outside the penalty area.

Garcia in the Rangers goal was also called upon to make a good save as Town pressed forward, but against the run of play Rangers grabbed a goal just before the break when a back pass to the keeper fell short, and Oscar was able to charge down the clearance and roll the ball into an unguarded net.

Rangers had a glorious chance to take a two goal lead when Jarno Glass evaded two challenges and cut the ball back for McFarland, but with just the keeper to beat Pat Cadden got a vital touch.

Gary Lynch missed from inside the six yard box for Town before Brough netted the equaliser when he ran on to a Mark Little pass before firing past the keeper.