MATT Doughty saluted his Altrincham players' resolve after they defied the odds and the elements to secure a deserved point against National League North promotion-chasing Brackley Town at a fog-bound St James Park on Tuesday night.

In temperatures hovering around freezing throughout and fog that reduced visibility to a few yards near the end, Alty lost defender Tom Hannigan to an injury in the warm-up and were up against it after Brackley cancelled out a spectacular Nicky Clee opener before half time.

But they resisted mounting second-half pressure and stood firm for a notable 1-1 draw that pleased manager Doughty.

He said: "The players have to take confidence from that.

"Brackley are a very good team who will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season, so to come here and match them for a deserved point has to do them some good.

"We caused them all sorts of problems in the first half, especially down their right flank.

"Andy Owens was causing problems, we were getting ourselves in good situations, with Jake Moult putting some great balls into the box, and Nicky scored a great goal to put us ahead.

"It was a poor goal to concede for their equaliser, but I thought overall we defended heroically and were good value for the point.

"I've just said to the players, if we can come here and deservedly take a point, why can't we go to Fylde, Boston, Telford, etc, and do the same there?

"We have proved we can do it. We have proved we can defend.

"I couldn't see the other side of the pitch near the end – that's how bad it got, but, to be fair, we had them on the ropes, and their manager (Kevin Wilkin) wanted the game off with 10 to 15 minutes to go.

"He told the ref he couldn't see across the pitch and neither could the linesman.

"He was desperate to get the game off, because he knew we were a danger on the counter-attack."

Hannigan's hip injury will be assessed prior to Saturday's game at his old club Fylde, but Sam Heathcote and Sam Patterson should be fit.