Swindon Supermarine's fine away form continued with a goalless stalemate at high-flying Rothwell, writes LEIGH MOORE.

Mark Collier took a threadbare squad to the fourth-placed outfit in fact he had just nine fully fit outfield players at his disposal after a sudden injury crisis.

This however prompted Marine to put in one of their best performance of the season as Collier went with a 4-3-3 formation in a bid to take the game to the equally attack minded opponents.

This move almost paid instant dividends as straight from kick-off Steve Davies picked out Mark Draycott with a ball over the top, however the striker could not get enough contact to steer the ball past keeper John Hughes.

New signing Adie Adams also went close but shot straight at Hughes when well placed from an Ian Howell centre.

Steve Bennett had the unenviable task of keeping Rothwell top goal scorer John Mitchell at bay, the young front man has netted 11 goals this season but an outstanding display from Bennett ensured he had a quiet afternoon in front of goal.

Marine's best chance of the first half fell to Dave Gee just a minute from the interval.

A ferocious free-kick from Davies was turned against the underside of the crossbar and then on to the post by Gee just yards from the goal-line.

Such was the simplicity of the chance Gee twiced turned away to celebrate what looked a certain goal.

That was to be his final act of the match as a re-occurring hamstring injury forced him off at half-time.

Marine continued to create chance after chance but the second half belonged to the Rothwell keeper Hughes, who made three crucial saves that earned his side a point.

First to be denied was Giles Harris as the experienced shot-stopper was equal to a stunning volley.

Next to see a golden opportunity go begging was Draycott, as second-half substitute Steve Jenkins supplied an inch perfect cross, but the ex-Swindon Town youngster headed over.

Jenkins had a chance of his own minutes later when strong running from Chris Copp allowed him to crash a shot at goal only to be thwarted by the finger tips of Hughes.

In the final seconds of the match both sides were needlessly reduced to 10 men.

An innocuous coming together between Roger Emms and Dean Foley saw the Marine defender receive his second yellow of the game whilst Foley saw a straight red for his part in what was a minor scuffle.

SUPERMARINE: King, Copp, Howell, Harris, Emms, Bennett, Gee (Jenkins 45), Joyce, Draycott, Davies, Adams.

Subs: S Collier, Hartridge, Miles.