RADCLIFFE Borough came through the toughest possible warm-up ahead of Tuesday night's cup date at the Macron with a hard-earned point at promotion chasers Ossett Town.

Man-of-the-moment Lewis Reilly equalised from the spot in the 82nd-minute to force a 1-1 draw at sixth-placed Ossett, who are fighting hard to make the Evo-Stik Division One North play-offs.

Joe Gibbons' men showed great spirit to bounce back after conceding with 11 minutes to play.

The point was a real fillip after Boro had been well and truly outclassed on Saturday in a 3-0 defeat at home to second-placed Lancaster City.

But while it has been a difficult week, the Taurus Park outfit will remain favourites when they take on Hallmark Security League side Ashton Athletic in the final of the Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy.

Boro have one more test, at league leaders Farsley Celtic before the final.

But barring injuries, the temporary Boro boss will be confident of fielding a side more than capable of claiming the club's first trophy in more than a decade.

Gibbons will be hopeful the side that battled so hard at Ossett will turn up, rather than the one that got rolled over by Lancaster.

It remained honours even after a first half that saw Ossett's Ash Jackson hit the post in the opening minute.

But Boro gave as good as they got, with Jack Hindle and Reilly having shots saved by home stopper Leigh Overton, while centre-back Jacques Kpohomouh put an audacious lob just over before the break.

Hindle and Daniel Burns were denied by Overton in the second half before Ossett capitalised on panic in the Boro defence caused by a long throw to stab home the opener.

The visitors did not throw in the towel, though, and after the referee awarded them a penalty Reilly confidently tucked away the spot kick.

Boro had little opportunity to show that kind of fight on Saturday in a game that visitors Lancaster controlled from start to finish.

Hannu Tam did the damage, scoring a quick-fire double either side of half time.

He opened his account in the 45th minute with a well-placed lob over Boro keeper Kyle Haslam and doubled Lancaster's advantage with a neat finish a minute into the second half.

Boro were given the chance to get back into the game in the 49th minute but Hindle saw his penalty saved by Michael Hale.

Kpohomouh made a goal-line clearance to keep the score down, but Jordan Connerton added a third from close range to put Lancaster out of sight.

The point at Ossett left Boro in 17th, nine points above the drop zone with six games to play.