Downham Town coach Duncan McAnally refused to be too downbeat after Lakenheath held his side to a goalless draw on Saturday.

Despite being frustrated at not collecting all three points at the Memorial Field, McAnally was keen to focus on the positives as Downham extended their unbeaten league run to 11 matches.

With several players unavailable, the hosts were forced to dig deep against a Lakenheath side who arrived in excellent goalscoring form.

And McAnally felt his players deserved plenty of credit for the way they handled the visitors’ attacking threat.

“Whilst we’re disappointed not to win the game, considering the number of players we didn’t have available, we’re relatively happy with the point,” he said.

“Of course, we want to win every game at home, but Lakenheath came here in really good form, scoring lots of goals, and I thought we nullified them really well.

“They didn’t really have a shot in the second half. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have those extra options available going forward, which could have made a difference and helped the front three.

“Whilst it’s disappointing not to win, we’re still unbeaten in the league, we’re still up there, so we take the point and move on.”

McAnally also believes Downham’s impressive start to the campaign should not be underestimated, particularly given the significant turnover of players during the summer.

Having lost eight members of last season’s squad, the club faced a major rebuilding job ahead of the new campaign.

“When we finished last season and went into pre-season, we’d lost so many players. I think we lost eight in total,” he explained.

“Not only did we have to replace those eight, but we also had to bring in additional numbers on top of that.

“Considering all of that, and looking at where we are now, being unbeaten is a hell of an achievement. Being up there in the league is a hell of an achievement as well.

“Of course, we want to push on as hard as possible and win games like today, but we take the point, don’t lose the game and keep a clean sheet.”

Downham’s defensive display was particularly pleasing for McAnally, with the home side restricting a Lakenheath attack which had scored freely in recent weeks.

The visitors had recorded emphatic 7-0 and 4-0 victories in their previous two outings, but found opportunities hard to come by at the Memorial Field.

“Defensively, I thought we were excellent,” said McAnally.

“Their centre-forward has been scoring for fun, but we really limited his chances and his time on the ball.

“They’ve got some really good attacking players, and that showed in their results coming into this game.

“So, for them to come here and not score is a real credit to our defenders.”

McAnally admitted the lack of attacking options made it difficult for Downham to turn one point into three, but felt protecting their unbeaten record was important in the circumstances.

“We’re just lacking those extra options up front at the moment,” he added.

“In hindsight, you can always look back and ask whether we could have brought attacking players on earlier, but it just wasn’t that sort of game.

“We’ll protect the 0-0 if we have to. It’s not ideal at home, but given the circumstances and the players we had unavailable, it’s not the worst result.”

The Downham coach was equally pleased with the commitment shown by his players in a physical encounter, singling out the contributions of Matty Blackford and Ben Terry.

“The desire, heart and commitment were all there. That’s the minimum you expect from the players, but they showed those qualities in abundance,” he said.

“I’m proud of them again, especially considering we were limited to 11 or 12 players.

“Matty Blackford is still recovering from his long-term injury, so it was good to get a decent number of minutes into him. Ben Terry came in and played the full 90 minutes as well.

“There are lots of positives to take from it.”

Downham now face two successive away fixtures, beginning with a local derby at Ely City on Tuesday night before travelling to Brantham Athletic next Saturday.

And with players expected to return to the squad, McAnally is looking forward to the challenges ahead.

“We’ve got numbers coming back in on Tuesday, which will be a big help,” he said.