​Bucks plug away but can’t score

After contrasting displays in the previous week, manager Craig Elliott fielded an unchanged Buxton team, while the visitors had three ex-Silverlanders in their ranks, left-back Alex Brown, midfielder Alex Wiles and winger Dom Tear.

The Bucks enjoyed the bulk of possession and of penalty-area openings, though without a cutting edge, but it was the Seadogs who missed the best chance of all, just past the hour when a left-flank cross fell to Olly Dyson six yards out at the far post but he poked the ball over the bar.

The pattern of the game varied little throughout as the hosts generally had the better of the exchanges, with Boro limited to a few openings on the counter, though late in the day they saw a chance to end a sequence of six matches without a win, but could do no more than earn their first corner in the 87th minute.

In the first-half, Tommy Elliott looked the most likely to fashion a significant opening and in only the second minute he fired a powerful, 20-yards, swerving shot that 'keeper Ryan Whitley parried to safety.

Elliott regularly found space on the left, creating several threats, the best of which came just after the half-hour.

His firm, accurate, squared pass picked out fellow midfielder Joe Ackroyd at the penalty spot but by delaying his shot the chance was gone.

Striker Diego De Girolamo also had two half-chances inside a minute. He managed an imaginative, flicked half-volley at 'keeper Joe Young's long-struck clearance only to find Whitley, who then made a fine save to keep out a firm shot.

Boro's Hall was equally imaginative with a back-heeled effort from eight yards out, but he too found the 'keeper.

The Bucks went on to create plenty more penalty-area action in the second-half, with Whitley producing the save of the match, again to deny De Girolamo, who started and finished a four-man move involving Jak McCourt and Dylan Mottley-Henry.

His goal-bound, 10-yard drive was superbly saved at the expense of a corner, with both sides wholeheartedly continuing to seek a winner but to no avail.