Max Mitchell praised the character and resilience of his Potters Bar Town side after they came from behind to secure a 2-2 draw at Cray Valley.

A superb long-range strike from David Hicks put the visitors in front at half-time on Saturday, but Cray levelled on 56 minutes before taking the lead with eight minutes of normal time remaining.

However, the visitors ensured their efforts got some reward when Ben Ward-Cochrane slotted home a late penalty won by Prosper Keto.

The Potters Bar boss admitted the contest wasn’t one for the purists, with the wind and rain playing a significant part in restricting the amount of football that could be played, but was pleased how his players dealt with the challenge of facing the side second in the Isthmian League Premier Division.

“It took us a little bit of time to get into the game, the first 20 minutes confidence was a little bit low and you could see that within the players and I felt the first goal settled us down a little bit,” Mitchell said. “What a strike from Hicksey, then we were able to gain a little bit more control.

“I think one thing about today’s performance is we showed a lot of character, a lot of grit and desire to go and get that equaliser in the last ten minutes. The boys put in a real committed performance and that was the non-negotiable we said before the game."

The draw ended a sequence of three consecutive league defeats and the Scholars boss remarked: “We have to take positives from it. It’s something we can build on. It’s been relentless in terms of the schedule in the last few weeks. We’ve played a lot of away games and had a few injuries and a few suspensions.

“We’ve showed a lot of resilience, it’s something to build off the back of, it will be good to have a little bit of reset next week, get on the training pitch and work on us, but I’m really pleased the boys have taken away a point off a good side.”

The point owed much to an impressive performance by on-loan Wycombe goalkeeper Laurie Shala, who made a number of vital saves.

“I think his all-round game has really improved,” said Mitchell. “We’ve questioned him a few times in terms of his kicking recently, but in the last couple of games he’s been spot on and when he does that you know Laurie Shala makes great saves and great stops and that’s one of his massive strengths as a goalkeeper. He’s shown a lot of character to come through that.

“He’s a loan goalkeeper, he’s coming here, he’s still young, we’ll give him the opportunity and we understand he’s going to get one or two games when he’s not at it.

“We finished the game with two 16-year-olds on the pitch today, they’re going to make mistakes. We have to understand that and be patient with them, but his performance today showed why he’s our number one.”