Takeley and Stansted shared the points at Station Road in their Essex Senior League Premier Division derby clash on Saturday.

The game was just the third of the year for Duncan Easley’s men due to postponements and it was a scrappy affair.

During the season visiting Stansted, managed by Paul Attfield, have made steady progress after a poor start, while Takeley have fallen away after a reasonable opening to the term.

There was little to determine the better of the two sides during their meeting at the weekend.

The Takeley defence was solid and disciplined and Lewis Endacott showed this in the 10th minute when he cleared the ball with an overhead kick to keep the score level.

Takeley struggled with their finishing and chances came and went throughout the first half without a goal to show for all of those opportunities.

The best chance fell to captain Alex Martin in the 21st minute when he brought the ball down under control, but failed to hit the target with a half volley from eight yards.

The away side also created a string of chances to score in the first half.

One of their best was Tom Le Masurier’s 25th minute effort which would have seen the visitors take the lead, but Takeley goalkeeper Sam Haywood made the save to deny the visitors.

The Airportmen did break the deadlock when a free-kick on the edge of the box from Dave Ratcliffe was scored a minute before half-time leaving Haywood with no chance of saving it.

The home side got back into the game in the second half when Stansted gave away a penalty for handball.

The spot-kick was taken and scored by Michael Ogboin in the 62nd minute.

Stansted had a few moments in which they dominated the play and possession, but the Takeley defence stayed strong to keep them out.

However, in the 87th minute a free-kick for Stansted was tipped over the crossbar by an alert Haywood.

The match finished level at 1-1 despite all the good scoring chances that both sides created.

Takeley host FC Romania at Station Road on Saturday.