Chesham United 1 Redditch United 1

REDDITCH United’s hopes of a third straight victory were dashed by familiar face as Sam Youngs fired home a 25-yard rocket for Chesham.

Mat Mitchell-King’s own goal had put Reds on course to put more pressure on the Southern League’s top five but Youngs intervened to level matters with 15 minutes to play at Amy Lane.

Neither side had much to shout about in the first half with Drew Roberts twice firing off target for the hosts and David McDermott seeing his deflected free-kick gathered with ease by Ashlee Jones.

New striker Luke Keen, signed in midweek from Sutton Coldfield Town, came on for Redditch at half-time and had a hand in the opener on 63 minutes.

Mitchell-King looked likely to lose his footrace with Keen and as Jones rushed out to his aid, the Chesham defender prodded past his stranded keeper and into his own net.

The hosts gradually upped the ante and when Redditch failed to properly clear a free-kick, Youngs let fly from distance and beat Brad Catlow with a rising effort across goal.

Buoyed by the equaliser, Chesham went in search of more but the closest they came was when Nat Kelly presented Roberts with a chance only for Catlow to save with his feet.

Reds might have pinched the points when Keen played in Simeon Cobourne late on but defender Bruce Wilson mopped up the danger with both teams worthy of a point on the balance of play.

Darren Byfield’s men return to action at home to Stratford on Tuesday (7.45pm) having climbed to seventh and to within four points of the play-off places on the back of recent results.

Reds: Catlow 7, Jones 7, Kelly 5, Courtney 7, McDonald 7, CULLINANE-LIBURD 8*, Loveridge 7, Apostolopoulos 5, Cobourne 6, McDermott 6 (Keen, h-t, 6), Ali 6. Unused subs: Brown, Young.