Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

BARRINGTON 'COBRA' Gaynor, coach of defending Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) champions Waterhouse, has blamed injuries and the absence of key players for his team's poor run of form in the second round of the competition.

Gaynor made this observation after his side was held to a 1-1 come-from-behind draw with Boys' Town on Monday night at the Waterhouse Mini-stadium.

"We had a bad injury period and it has affected us but the players are coming back and we should start playing better," Gaynor said.

"We didn't get the desired result today, but we definitely played better than we did in the last two games," said Gaynor. "We will be trying to improve on our performance for the third round because we have been giving up goals and we need to try and stop that and find our own," he said.

"We were a bit hasty whenever we had the ball. We have a tendency to go forward too quickly and we needed to make that extra pass," said Gaynor.

Played well

Andrew Price, coach of Boys' Town, said: "I think we played well. We came out and matched Waterhouse man for man. We played a very disciplined first half.

"The second, we came out with a lot more urgency, but we were unable to take all three points."

Boys' Town's captain, Michael Campbell, gave his team the lead 11 minutes after the half-time break when he fired home a powerful 30-yard shot past goalkeeper Richard McCallum against the run of play.

Five minutes later, George Vernal came close to doubling Boys' Town's lead but his close-range shot was tipped over the crossbar by McCallum.

Irvino English gave Water-house the equaliser in the 79th minute with a spectacular 35-yard left-footer which went like a rocket past custodian Kirk Porter.

English came close to scoring his team's second goal in the dying moments but his 25-yard free kick was denied by the post.

Waterhouse 1

(Irvino English 79th)

Boys' Town 1

(Michael Campbell 56th)