A terrific free-kick from substitute Max White earned Daisy Hill a point in a 1-1 draw at Chadderton in their North West Counties League First Division North clash on Saturday.

Going into the game on the back of a disappointing defeat to Ashton Town earlier in the week, Daisy got off to the worst possible start when they conceded a goal to Chadderton’s Harry Dean with just three minutes on the clock.

But as the first half wore on Daisy began to get a foothold in the game, and after the break they dominated possession and drew level when White struck a superb equaliser from 25 yards.

Daisy joint-manager Leighton Mills said afterwards he had been happy with his side’s display.

“I always felt we would come here and put on a performance, and we are happy taking a point,” said Mills.

“They came out flying at us, but we weathered the storm, and after about maybe 25 minutes, we started to get a foothold on the game.

“We started to knock the ball around and play in the right areas, although we didn’t really create anything.

“We went in at half time, and said if we stuck to what we were doing the game would open up in the second half, and that was what happened. We changed the formation because we had to go for it.

“In the second half we were tremendous and should have gone on to win the game, maybe by a couple of goals. The subs that came on were good too, and overall it was a really good team performance.

“Max White hadn’t played for nearly three weeks, hadn’t trained, and we hadn’t played much up to when he got injured. But he got some minutes in, and his free-kick was tremendous.

“Chadderton have only lost twice all season, once to us and once to (league leaders) Pilkington so that shows you what sort of team they are. They are second in the table for a reason.

“After losing to Ashton Town on Monday, going to Chadderton and not getting a point wasn’t good enough. But in the end, a point is a very good result on a pitch that didn’t suit us, and stopped us doing what we normally do.”

The afternoon began badly for Daisy when Chadderton’s Dean was allowed time and space to advance towards the edge of the box, and beat Kier Barry with a shot into the far corner.

Then, Daisy had a let off when James Purfield skied a shot over from close range. Soon afterwards Kier Barry was at full stretch to keep out a long-range chip shot from Joshua Goddard and just after the half hour, Chadderton spurned another chance when a Joe Richards free-kick was headed just wide by Adam Dale.

A Jamie Ramwell header that cleared the bar was Daisy’s sole chance in the first half, but after the break, the pattern of the game changed, with the visitors having the bulk of the possession and dominating for long spells.

At the midway point of the half, Jacob Ridings played the ball to Jack Coop on the edge of the box and his shot on the turn went just wide, but with 19 minutes remaining Daisy finally drew level.

Lee Grimshaw was tripped from behind on the edge of the box, and White stepped up to curl a delightful free-kick over the defensive wall into the far corner.

Daisy pushed forward looking for a winner, but were always vulnerable to a quick counter-attack, and they had a narrow escape with 11 minutes left when Chadderton striker Dale hit the side-netting from a good position.

But Daisy continued to create chances, and after Grimshaw headed just past the far post from Coop’s cross, Ridings came desperately close when he timed his run perfectly down the right to pick up a long ball, but his angled shot across the keeper just missed the far post.

As the game moved into stoppage time, Daisy’s claims for a penalty when Ridings was brought down were waved away by the referee, with a free-kick given instead, and in the end the visitors had to settle for a point.