DORCHESTER Town boss Callum Brooks hailed the “phenomenal” fighting spirit shown by his players during the pulsating 2-2 BetVictor Southern Premier South draw with Taunton.

Brooks’ men twice went ahead against last season’s runners-up but were pegged back each time – latterly in the 93rd minute.

There was more to this game than goals, however. Dorchester had to contend with two dubious penalties, both of which Taunton missed – goalkeeper Shane Murphy saving the second.

Both sides became increasingly frustrated by a number of contentious decisions, Taunton’s late saviour Shane White receiving his marching orders after a meleè with Neil Martin.

Dorchester’s performance came off the back of two successive wins and is arguably a result they will be both frustrated and delighted by.

Brooks told Echosport: “I thought the attitude and fight that my group showed was absolutely phenomenal at times.

“We’re trying to turn the tide (at) the football club. We want to start winning more than we lose.

“When you’re on top of games, you have to come away with something. I thought that was a precious point in a game in which if we’d have got beaten 3-2, 4-2 we’d have said ‘we move on’.

“But we’ve come away with a point which makes it three unbeaten. You won’t get anywhere without that desire, grit and fight to get points when necessarily you might not otherwise have deserved one.

“Players played through injury and that alone was worth a point.

“They took four points off us last season and a point represents progress. We want to be more competitive in these games, like we did against Hendon where we blew a team away second half.

“The togetherness my team showed – if I was a supporter watching that I’d be happy.”

Dorchester’s Dan Strugnell and Billy Lowes picked up minor facial injuries, while Martin was also seen hobbling. Kyle Egan had earlier gone off with a knee injury after just 10 minutes.