The Bucks drew for the first time in 14 games, as Chorley came from 2-0 down to earn a point on Tuesday night.

There weren’t any real chances of note in the opening 20 minutes. The Bucks dominated the ball, although most of the passing was in front of the well-organised visitors. But Wilkin’s men did find a way through in the 22nd minute courtesy of a mistake from the Magpies. Chorley were making a rare foray forward when a loose ball across the pitch was pounced on by Jamie Meddows, who hit a first time ball from inside his own half up the middle to Dylan Allen-Hadley. Level with the two Chorley centre backs, Allen-Hadley surged away before coolly slotting past Matt Urwin in the visitors’ goal.

Allen-Hadley was nearly in again a few moments later, but this time he chose to pass only for the ball to narrowly evade Remi Walker.

The visitors then enjoyed a good ten-minute spell in which they peppered Josh Gracey’s goal. Milan Lalkovic’s low drive from the edge of the area was well stopped by Gracey, before a long throw found its way to Jack Sampson who nearly headed in. Sampson and Owen German also each went close with rasping volleys from the edge of the box that flew just wide of the post.

But with the Magpies seemingly on the up, the Bucks made it 2-0 on 35 minutes – and it was a near carbon copy of the first goal. Picking the ball up on halfway, Allen-Hadley only had Harvey Smith to beat, and he breezed past the Chorley defender before firing a low shot past Urwin into the bottom corner.

Allen-Hadley might have had a hat-trick shortly before halftime when Meddows slid him through on the right of the area, but his effort whistled just across goal and wide of the post. 2-0 to the Bucks at halftime.

It was a fairly quiet start to the second period, with the first chance of the half coming on 56 minutes. After some neat hold up play from Sampson, he found Warren Clarke charging down the left. Clarke cut in and hit a powerful shot across goal from the corner of the box, but Gracey did superbly well to fingertip the ball around the post. But from the following corner, the Bucks failed to clear the ball and it fell to an unmarked Taelor O’Kane at the back post, who lashed the ball high into the net from close range.

The Magpies tails were up now, and they found a leveller around ten minutes later. A diagonal ball across the area was falling between Lalkovic and Jordan Cranston, who slid in but got his challenge all wrong, as he took out Lalkovic on the penalty spot. Cranston was spared a red card due to the double jeopardy rule that prevents a player from being punished with both a red card and a penalty kick if they made a genuine attempt to play the ball. But the Bucks had punishment enough as Lalkovic picked himself up and smashed the ball straight down the middle from the spot.

An unmarked Mark Ellis fired a volley from a corner into Gracey’s side netting on 77 minutes, before the Bucks started to reassert themselves. Wilkin’s men looked the more likely side in the last ten minutes, but couldn’t find a way through the Chorley defence. Jimmy Armson flicked a near post header over the bar from a Meddows corner, while Ricardo Dinanga had two snapshot chances but both were straight at Urwin.

This was the classic game of two halves, and a draw was the right result. The point lifts the Bucks back up into 7th and the playoff places.