BASINGSTOKE Town recorded their first league draw of the season as honours were even with visiting Dorchester Town.

In the end it was a fair result, after the home side took the lead before the break, only for Magpies to level after the interval.

Basingstoke boss Terry Brown made five changes to his starting XI for the game, one being forced just before kick-off after Dan Bayliss twisted his ankle in the warm-up and was replaced by Guri Demuria.

The other changes saw Michael Atkinson, Marcus Johnson-Schuster, Sam Smart and Ashley Artwell all back in place of Tim Wolfiel, Dan Collier, Jack McKnight and Callum Bunting.

After Dorchester's Dom Paesar-Dower fired wide, the home side came so close to taking the lead as Shane Hollamby found Sam Argent and his ball across the face of goal was just missed by Ben Wright.

Soon after a Dragons' corner saw Hollamby denied by a great save from Chris Weale and then on the 20 minute mark Ben Wright curled in a shot which hit the post.

The home side took the lead three minutes later, as Ashleigh Artwell's curled ball at goal hit Ross Carmichael and ended up in the back of the net.

Dorchester's best chance of the opening 45 minutes saw Sam Lanahan head just wide.

Basingstoke midfielder Charlie Kennedy then tested Weale and Leslie Sackey flashed another ball across the face of goal which Argent just failed to connect with.

For the start of the second half, Artwell was replaced by Wohlfiel due to an ankle injury. His introduction saw Sackey move forward to the left wing.

Dorchester dominated the second half for long periods, but the home side did force Weale into two good saves from Johnson-Schuster and Argent.

The visitors finally got the goal they deserved on 72 minutes as Aaron Rodriguez scored with a low shot.

They then hit the bar courtesy of Gary Bowles eight minutes later.

The home side were forced to hold on with some gritty defending to earn a point.

They also somehow managed to pick up three yellow cards in the last 10 minutes, one of which was given to George Bennett when Charlie Kennedy committed the foul.

Referee Tristan Greaves also missed an elbow which cut the face of Demuria instead awarding Dorchester a free-kick.

His second half performance was described as appalling by Town boss Terry Brown and he said: "I am really delighted with the point. Their goalie has made three outstanding saves and we struck to task and Guri Demuria did well coming in for Dan Bayliss."

Next up for Town is a trip to Dorchester for an FA Trophy tie on Saturday.