Sluggish Hastings held to a draw

Hastings do seem to have a worrying problem in the opening exchanges of each half and manager Steve Lovell is the first to acknowledge this. "They scored early on and we hadn't woken up," he said.

"I don't think it's anything to do with their frame of mind, they all want to do it - it's just the way the game starts, sometimes they can't adapt to it. It's not a mental thing at all, it's something they've got to get through themselves physically, whether it be through going into the first tackle or playing the first pass. They've got to get physically involved in the game and once they do they will be the better for it."

Hastings just weren't at the races in the first 20 minutes and could easily have found themselves more than one goal down. Athletic took the lead on 16 minutes when a neat pass cut through a square home defence and John Fowler raced clear to fire past the onrushing Danny Knowles. They could have had more with Paul Scott, Billy Jackson and Danny Stassinos all going close.

Hastings needed something to spark them into life and according to Lovell it was Knowles who provided it. The keeper was quick to spot the danger from a long pass and dashed out of his box, tackled a couple of forwards and found a team-mate with his pass, all the while his defence simply looked on as if in awe.

Moments later Peter Sayer provided Hastings' first genuine attempt on goal, forcing Robert Frankland into a point blank save. Chris Honey also went close with a header from a corner before Honey and Carl Rook combined on 26 minutes to set up Sayer whose delightful clipped chip cleared the diving Frankland and nestled in the back of the net. Honey forced Frankland into another save just before half time.

The second period struggled to get going as the Hastings midfield, which featured a debut start for summer signing Alan Tutton, played too deep in an effort to protect their defence which as a result isolated the two forwards.

The match did burst into life again in the last 10 minutes when Scott failed to make the most of a clear run on goal and a long free kick deflected off Richard Bolton's shin and cannoned against the post. Hastings could also have won it but Honey's close range header was clawed out by Frankland.

Lovell said: "It was one that got away. I think we had two half chances against us at the end but before that we had all the play and just couldn't get the winning goal."

The previous Saturday Hastings lost 1-0 at Walton & Hersham, with the only goal coming from Mark Nwokeji in the 39th minute.