UniBond Premier League: Prolific striker Steve Foster struck a well taken 64th minute equaliser to earn Boro a point and make up for their opening day home defeat by the Gladiators.

The night had not started off well for Radcliffe who arrived only 25 minutes before the kick off, lost skipper Simon Kelly injured in the pre match warm up, and by the ninth minute they were behind.

Having escaped in the first minute when Town skipper James Lukic, scorer of Matlock's winner at the Inn2gether Stadium, rose to flick a close range header over the bar from a left wing corner, they conceded a ninth minute penalty when Lee Duffy tripped Kris Bowler on the left of the penalty box.

Boro protested vehemently to Sheffield official David Benton and had Scott Wilson booked, but Matlock midfielder Ian Clarke kept his nerve to slot home the spot kick with- consumate ease.

It was the perfect boost for the Gladiators whose unbeaten run had come to an end at Prescot on Saturday at the seventh time of asking.

They were now expected to go on and build on their advantage against a Radcliffe side, surprisingly struggling this term.

To their credit Radcliffe showed resilience, playing some nice football up to the Gladiators penalty box when most of their moves petered out against a stubborn home defence.

They were restricted to long range attempts with Carl Lomax coming closest with a fierce drive which whistled past Andy Richmond's right hand post after a neat turn 25-yards out.

Phil Priestley kept Radcliffe in contention with a brilliant fingertip save, pushing a stunning 30-yard blast from Bowler over the bar.

On the half hour, Paul McGuire was booked for a late challenge on Dene Cropper with Foster stupidly joining him for speaking out of turn, the last of the four first-half cautions came when home striker Steve Taylor was booked for allegedly diving when trying to latch on to a through pass.