Diss Town opened their Thurlow Nunn Division One campaign with a respectable 1-1 draw against Halstead at Brewers Green Lane on Saturday.

The Tangerines soon settled after being put under pressure early on and nearly went ahead from a corner when a headed clearance off the line by Drew denied Jack Tipple.

It kept the game goalless after the opening quarter of an hour and it was O'Hare for the visitors who had the next chance to break the deadlock. He was denied by the hosts keeper Lewis Riches who smothered his effort in a one-on-one.

The end to end nature of the game continued but other than a long range free-kick from Joslin the Essex side had no more real chances. The opportunity of the half went to Diss on the half hour mark when Nuno Nogueira beat two men on the wing and set up Buckmaster but his effort went well over from 10 yards.

With the clocking ticking over for 50 minutes it was Andrade who got onto the end of a ball over the top and he lobbed the advancing keeper to give Halstead the lead.

Minutes later, following good work by Regan and Baker, it was again Andrade who had a shot at goal but this time his effort went wide.

Halstead's advantage didn't last long, five minutes in fact, as they were undone by a ball over their defence and Sam Buckmaster made no mistake as he placed the ball beyond Fowler. The advantage had swung the hosts' way and the same player had another chance just beyond the hour mark but this time could only find the side netting.

The visitors picked up their tempo and within a six-minute period of play created three chances. Firstly, Andrade saw his effort parried by Riches and hooked away, then Baker fired wide after good work by Hampson and finally Baker's cross was narrowly missed by Hampson.

The see-saw way nature of this game continued and Diss were denied when Fowler smothered Myles point blank effort. This set up a tense final 10 minutes as both sides were looking for a winner. The tension showed when the hosts were reduced to ten men when Stephen Vincent received a straight red with three minutes of normal time to go.

Diss have a free weekend before taking on Swaffham Town at Brewers Green Lane next Tuesday evening (7.45).