WINDSOR and their ground tenants, Virginia Water, fought out a thrilling 1-1 draw in their Hellenic League derby at Stag Meadow on Monday.

In front of a crowd of close to 200, both sides created opportunities to win the match, but in the end a point apiece was the fairest result.

Virginia Water started brightly with Finn Evered and Adam McNamara both going close, the latter being denied by a smart save from keeper Hugo Sobte.

At the other end, Matt Jones saved superbly from Matt Woods and Jeevan Panesar.

It was hosts Windsor who broke the deadlock just before the half-hour mark. Following a corner, the ball broke loose and the quick- thinking Matt Woods prodded home from close range.

They had the better of the match for the rest of the half with Virginia not being helped by losing the excellent Marc Lansdowne with suspected ankle ligament damage.

But that blow did not prevent Waters starting the second half on the front foot and it took them only seven minutes to level the scores when McNamara’s cross was smashed home by Lorenzo Di Felice.

Waters’ bad luck continued as they lost Josh Guichard to injury, but his replacement, Scott Jackson, made an immediate impact almost finishing another flowing move, his volley being hit straight at Sobte.

The keeper was soon in action again, this time making a finger-tip save from a goal-bound shot from McNamara.

Waters thought they had scored again Di Felice found the net, but he was ruled offside.

At the other end, Windsor had their chances, only for Jones to keep them at bay with several fine saves, while Josh Hill cleared a header off the line.

On 81 minutes there was a real contentious moment when Sobte fumbled a shot from Di Felice and the ball appeared to drop over the line, but the officials were not in a position to award a goal.

Last Saturday, Windsor crashed out of the FA Cup, going down 5-0 at Evo-Stik League Division 1 South side Cirencester.

They fell behind in the opening minute and conceded a second goal four minutes before half-time.

They worked hard to get back in the game, but the hosts made it 3-0 on 70 minutes, with further goals coming in the 76th and 85th minutes.

To their credit, Windsor kept plugging away and were unfortunate not to have scored a consolation goal. Woods struck the left post following a free kick that was touched to him 25 yards out and Paul Coyne fired wide of the right post after a corner kick.

Windsor are away to Royal Wootton Bassett this Saturday, while Virginia Water face unbeaten league leaders Wantage Town at Stag Meadow (3pm ko).

  • See today's Observer for more pictures.