MANAGER Dave King has praised the attitude of his young players after Tividale battled to secure their first point of the season.

Tivi bounced back from last Saturday’s disappointing 5-1 FA Cup defeat at Westfields by bagging a point at Coventry Sphinx on Monday night.

Jamie Hunt netted with 10 minutes left on the clock as King’s men finally got their points tally ticking over.

The boss said: “It shows we have the right character here. We came back well away from home and against a side that is flying at the moment. I think we could have even won it.

“We wanted a response after the defeat on Saturday and we got that and have something to build on.”

Against Westfields, Tividale found themselves 5-0 down after a nightmare first 25 minutes in the preliminary round of the famous competition.

The home side were ahead after just two minutes when the impressive Aidan Thomas’s free kick was converted at the back post by James Baldwin.

Just 10 minutes later it was two when Thomas again was the provider from the left. This time Richard Greaves the grateful recipient slotting the ball past Tividale keeper Tom Hayward.

Dylan Bonella stepped up and fired a free kick into the bottom corner to make it 3-0 before Jamie Molyneux made it four.

Finally, Jamie Baldwin raced clear, cut inside his marker and chipped the ball into the back of the net.

Tivi made two changes in the form of target man Craig Tibbetts and defender Andre Edwards to stem the tide.

The changes brought an almost immediate response when Lewis McPike was fouled in the the area on 35 minutes. He stepped up to take the spot kick before firing home on the rebound after his initial effort was saved by Westfields keeper Keiron Blackburn.

King said: “We had to make quite a few changes because of the amount of players that were absent. That was the main reason for the defeat. We were completely shellshocked.

“However, the changes we made worked and we managed to keep the score down, pull a goal back and do reasonably well for the rest of the game.”

Tividale have now boosted their ranks with the arrival of Lye Town forward Steve Weaver, returning midfielder Desean Martin, defender Jacob Wedderburn, winger Joe Kenton and former Birmingham City youth player Jordan Potter.

King admits that it is going to take time for his young players to gel.

“We have a good set of lads but it may take a little time for them to get used to the league and playing with each other,” he added. “Everyone at the club and the fans have been great and I think they understand that.”

“We now have two tough home games coming up but it will mean we’ll learn a lot more about where we are in our development.”

Dale now face home games against Loughborough University this Saturday and Lye Town on Bank Holiday Monday (both 3pm kick-off).