A great second half performance from Sinclair United saw them come away from Bloxham with a hard fought 3-2 win.
But it could have been much worse for United after they produced a poor first half display that left them 2-0 down and with a long shot of getting back into the match. With last week's game against Bodicote Sports being postponed, United had a bit of rustiness to shake off in the game.
Ian Timms and Luke Butterworth returned to the starting lineup with Toby Jones replacing Stuart Ciballi in goal. New signing Nathan Lee was on the bench.
The opening encounter saw both sides fail to take on a foothold on the game, the poor playing surface contributed to a lot of misplaced passes and players losing their balance. Despite United doing a lot of pressing in the first half they didn't have much to show for it in testing the Bloxham keeper.
And their failure to create any chances of their own saw them go 1-0 down in the 22nd minute. A deep ball from a free kick evaded all the Sinclair defenders and saw the Bloxham forward add the deftest of touches to glance the ball beyond Jones in the United goal.
The goal seemed to wake the visiting side up and they started to attack both wings in a bid to find the elusive equaliser. Jason Pritchard was fed through into the box by Karl Woodcock and just before he could set himself up for a shot he agonisingly lost his footing and the chance was gone.
And Bloxham were to grab their second to go 2-0 up when another corner was flicked on at the near post and the Bloxham defender was quickest to react and stab home the ball from six yards.
United looked like a team far from their usual best and it would need something special for them to turn the game around. Matters were not helped however when both Ben Washington and Will Jones had to hobble off with knocks, forcing United to make early substutions.
United resorted back to a 4-5-1 formation with Butterworth coming back into midfield and what was said at half time worked wonders for United. Right from the kick off they showed their attacking intent, Woodcock and Timms working well in the midfield to help drive the team forward. Josh Nash was proving difficult to handle up front and balls from the middle were being fed to the wings in an attempt to find that one goal.
They were coming close to scoring however when a corner from the right saw a flick on by Woodcock hit the outside of the post. But United found the goal in the 65th minute. Another good passage of play down the left side saw Luke Whitehead delivera great ball into Woodcock and his glancing header was placed firmly past the keeper. The goal gave United a new found belief to find the equaliser and they nearly found it when the ball was poked through the Bloxham defence for Pritchard who had just the keeper to beat.
But to his and his teammates despair he could only put the ball over the bar, much to the midfielder's frustration.
To United's credit they kept battling and were rewarded in the 65th minute when substitute Paul Rogers hit a cross from the left which looped high and over the keeper's head for a freak goal but nevertheless the equaliser they deserved.
That didn't stop the visiting side from looking for the equaliser though, and even though the pitch began to cut up United look the more likely to score. And they finally went in front ten minutes from time. Pritchard was not to be denied his goal and when he was put through again, despite rounding the keeper and having his initial shot blocked by a defender, he quickly got up to poke the moving ball over the line.
There was still time for Pritchard to double his tally after good work once again from Rogers in the midfield saw him feed the winger on the left. But like his first effort his shot went over the bar.
The final whistle signalled the end of a Jekyll and Hyde performance for United. Despite the poor first half it was a display of great character and determination by the players, and sees the team sit mid table in division one.
They face high flying Diverse at Hanwell Fields, looking to make it two wins on the bounce.
UNITED: T Jones, W Jones (D Wiles 40), L Jarvis, A Timms, L Whitehead, B Washington (N Lee 20), K Woodcock, I Timms, J Pritchard, L Butterworth (P Rogers 70), J Nash Subs unused: M Coyne, S Ciballi
