NORTHWICH Victoria’s players reacted in the right way to earn a deserved share of the spoils at Hinckley United, according to manager Andy Preece.

He told the Guardian that their midweek mauling against Droylsden was forgotten after the 1-1 draw.

“I’m a lot happier today,” he smiled afterwards.

“I think the draw was a fair result. We could have won it but I’m not certain they can say the same thing.

“Most important is that we bounced back from the poor performance and result on Wednesday and that’s all I can ask.”

Wayne Riley’s superb first half opener handed the visitors an interval lead.

They might have doubled their tally when Jon D’Laryea spurned a glorious chance in the opening minute of the second period.

“That was a big chance,” he said.

“If Jon scores then we go on to win the game, no doubt about that at all. Those are the little details that matches swing on.

“Possibly we should have made more of the opportunities we created in the first half when we were the better team and deserved to be in front.”

Hinckley levelled when Andy Hall ghosted onto a long ball forward to slide a smart finish past Curtis Aspden on 55 minutes.

The Knitters had the better of the contest after that.

“We should have defended the long ball better than we did but their player’s movement was good to be in the right place to make the most of it,” added Preece.

“We knew there would be a spell of the game when we were under pressure and that’s exactly what happened [after they equalised].

“It’s fair to say we lost our shape a little bit at times but what pleased me was that we dug in and rolled our sleeves up.

“At 1-1 and bearing in mind what happened on Wednesday then we might just have crumbled like we have on one or two other occasions this season.

“That wasn’t the case.”

Vics slipped two places in the standings following Gloucester City’s win at Farsley Celtic and Workington’s home success against Solihull Moors, leaving them 15th.

That’s 14 points off a play-offs place.