BOSS Matty Holmes insisted he was pleased with Wimborne Town’s second-half reaction after they battled back to earn a 1-1 draw at Hendon.

The Magpies manager admitted his side were “off the pace” during the opening 45 minutes at Silver Jubilee Park. The visitors fell behind to Matty Harriott's 32nd-minute goal.

But Wimborne responded and got their leveller through a Kieran Roberts penalty midway through the second period, after Howard Hall was judged to have handled in the Hendon box.

Magpies have now picked up two points from their opening three Southern League South games.

Holmes told Radio Wimborne: “In the first half I was lucky we got in at 1-0 (down). I think they’ll have felt they should have gone in at two or three.

“We were off the pace so we spoke to them at half-time and said ‘look, we need to make a few of these decisions’.

“We got that reaction. With Stokesy (James Stokoe) on up front and Stef (Pemny) coming on, I thought they were really good subs for us.

“Second half I think we felt we should have scored two or three.”

Magpies: Plain, Maybury, Buck, Byrne (Penny), Poole, Clarke, Doe, Roberts, Lee (Stokoe), Burbidge, Holmes (Young). Unused subs: Pettefer, Bayston.