Lions and Tigers’ tempers flare, oh my! But no goals at Sandy Lane

It was Tigers’ second failure to win in two consecutive home games, as they struggled to stand up to a stubborn, physical approach from their visitors.

The cost to Worksop’s title hopes won’t be known until the end of the season.

But Tigers were certainly counting the cost physically at full-time, Mitch Husbands and Jono Wafula limping off after poor Heanor tackles.

Patient build up brought Worksop an early sight of goal, Tom Elliott seeing his shot deflected for a corner.

There was only four minutes on the clock when Marc Strzyzewski chopped down Wafula with a very late tackle, seeing yellow.

Wafula was unable to run off the knock and was replaced by Andy Ward.

It was a scrappy, error-ridden start to the game with both sides struggling to do much with their possession.

Jay Cooper looked dangerous for the visitors and having ghosted past Tom Burgin, brought a save from Jon Stewart at his near post.

Heanor enjoyed a spell of pressure, Stewart having to tip a corner off the head of Nick Hall, Sam Liversidge heading off his own line.

Sellars’ trickery saw him get the better of former Tiger Chris Shaw before sending an inviting ball to the back post, Husbands beaten to it by Hall.

Another nice piece of skill from Sellars allowed him to get to the byline and dink in a cross for Ross Henshaw, the defender heading over.

It was Worksop’s turn to do the attacking, Husbands teeing up Phil Roe whose volley was palmed away at full stretch by Ian Deakin.

Cooper got the wrong side of the Worksop defence and having gone past Henshaw was denied by Stewart.

The most interesting action took place off the pitch, the two benches erupting on the half-time whistle, tension boiling over after the referee missed an elbow on Roe.

Worksop were quicker out of the blocks for the second half, Higginson winning a corner and Liversidge firing over.

A nice through ball from Sellars put Elliott in on goal, and although he beat his marker, and got a touch to put the ball past Deakin, it wasn’t strong enough to find the net.

Sellars’ corner from the right was headed out as far as Elliott and he ran onto the ball to thump a volley towards the net, a defender deflecting just over the top.

For the second time in the game, a Heanor player was yellow carded for a late tackle and the recipient limped off - this time Husbands felled by Jones and subsequently replaced by Andy Ofosu.

Debrouwer had got little change out of the Worksop defence in the second half, but finally gave Henshaw the slip and drove to the near post, only finding the side netting with his shot.

Ofosu had glory in mind when he ran onto Higginson’s ball over the top, but with a clear sight of goal he volleyed well wide.

It had 0-0 written all over it, and the final whistle brought a scrappy battle of a game to a close, Heanor far the happier with a share of the spoils.

Worksop: Stewart 7, Wafula 6 (Ward 13), Roe 6, HENSHAW 7, Liversidge 7, Burgin 7, Sellars 6, Scott 6, Husbands 6 (Ofosu 70), Higginson 6 (Jordan 90), Elliott 6. Not used: Hawkins, Whincop.

Heanor: Deakin, Marriott, Shaw, Gregory, Hall, Strzyzewski, Cooper, Jones, Benger, Richards (Booth 61), Debrouwer. Not used: Hawes, Andrews, Naylor, Baker.

Referee: Mark Hutchinson. Assistants: Edward Cook, Michael McGill.

Yellows: Strzyzewski 4, Jones 67

Attendance: 445