A late Tom Purrington goal rescued a draw for Taunton Town in their latest pre-season friendly.

The Peacocks travelled to Gloucestershire side Bishop’s Cleeve, who play their football in South League Division One South on Friday (July 26).

Bishop’s Cleeve enjoyed the better of the first half, having a hoal disallowed for offside after 12 minutes before eventually they opened the scoring on 29 minutes when Ethan Dunbar won the ball ahead of ‘keeper Adam Parkes allowing Ross Langworthy to finish in an open goal.

Taunton’s best chance of the half fell to Evander Grubb whose effort from a tight angle was kept out by the leg of Bishop’s Cleeve stopper Lewis Clayton.

The Peacocks improved after half time, with Purrington, Kyreese Morrison and Alfie Moulden all denied while Parkes did similar in the Taunton goal to stop the lead growing further.

When Morrison hit the post, it seemed Town would remain out of lick but on 81 minutes Purrington’s shot from the edge of the area took a slight deflection to deceive the goalkeeper for the equaliser.

The Peacocks now face their first competitive game of the season as they go up against Brislington in the final of last season’s Somerset Premier Cup at Bath City’s Twerton Park on Wednesday (July 31).

Assistant manager Steve Murray said travel issues for the players may have been responsible for a ‘lacklustre start’ from Taunton but admitted they ‘were not good enough’ in the first half.

He added: “Similar to Tuesday ( vs Clevedon Town), we just were not getting near them. They were turning us too much, getting in behind and they deserved to go 1-0 up at half time.

Steve went on to praise the players for lifting their performance in the second half.

“We haven’t changed anything tactically, its just more intensity again, pressing, winning duels and there was only one team in it in the second half and we probably deserved to win the game ultimately,” said Steve.

He also said it was a good result for having played it on astro turf – especially as several teams in the Southern League Premier Division play on synthetic surfaces.