IAN Long believes his team deserved a point in Saturday’s last minute defeat at top of the table Newcastle Town.

‘Dale levelled the game at 1-1 two minutes into the second half through Jordan Archer, only for Newcastle to punish a Nigel Penney error in stoppage time courtesy of Jose Gurrionero.

Long said “I’m really disappointed.

“We did enough to get something from the game.

And the Tividale boss was impressed with the way his players responded to the tactical changes made at the break.

“In all honesty, we got it wrong tactically in the opening 45 minutes but we changed things around at half-time by bringing Sam Williams on and we were much the better team in the second half.

“We got the goal very quickly after the interval and it would have been a terrific point to take home from here.”

Tivi, who now lie 14th, face Romulus at The Beeches next weekend with Long looking forward to the challenge.

“I’m already looking forward to the game.

“One mistake has cost us today and we got punished but we’ve shown once more that we can compete with the very best in this league.”