IT certainly wasn’t a thriller at Vospers Oak Villa on Saturday for Porthleven, but considering they had eight first team players missing from their starting line up, a 0-0 draw was seen a point gained rather than two lost.

Leading scorer Dan Stidwell, captain Chris Strike and goalkeeper Steve Hawthorn were all out along with Alan Thomas, Paddy Gardner, Tom Russell, Paul Ainscough and Matt Moore.

It forced manager Kevin Richards to start with an unusual 4-5-1 formation. Chris Lawrence had to play an unfamiliar lone striker role and winger Matt Fox was forced to fill in at left-back.

As a result Port, who went into the match with a 100 per cent record so far this season, left for Plymouth in hope more than expectation.

However, they were the better side early on and started to trouble the home side, who had won three out of their four games going into Saturday’s match.

Ed Timmons sent in a great cross from a free-kick, but Ashley Stidwell’s run was fractionally late and he saw his header fly over the top of the Vospers goal.

The best chance for Vospers came towards the end of the half as a corner by Martin Mitchell fell nicely onto the head of centre back James Simmons, but he was also off target with his header.

The second half saw Vospers take more control of the game and Port were thankful to Richard Pennington, who on his recall to the first team, tipped Simmons’ shot round the post five minutes into the second half.

Pennington then provided more heroics to save a Jamie Honeywill shot from point-blank range as the home side continued to turn the screw. However, Port’s defence was holding firm and a break-away move saw them almost steal the lead. A good through-ball saw Lawrence racing in on goal, but just as he reached the edge of the Vospers area he was taken down by Simmons.

The big central defender looked to have been the last-man and a red card seemed inevitable.

However, Simmons breathed a sight of relief when the referee let him off with a booking.

As a result Vospers continued to have the upperhand. However, another wasteful header from Honeywill followed by a good save from man-of-the-match Pennington saw the scores remain goalless.

A speculative chip shot from Craig Brendan was the last real effort on goal as both sides took a point from the game to continue their impressive starts to the season.

Port are hoping to have the majority of their squad back this Saturday as they take on Newquay in the second qualifying round of the FA Vase.

The Fishermen provided the shock of the last round when they beat Elmore 3-2 away.

Captain Chris Strike though will face a race against time to see if he can make it to Gala Parc for a place on the bench.

He gets back from holiday on Saturday and is due to arrive at Exeter Airport at midday before travelling down to Porthleven.