Paul Burton was pleased to take a point from the MKM Stadium in Walkergate - though was somewhat disappointed in his side’s performance.

The boss labelled the game a real struggle, praising Newcastle Benfield for their organisation, and his Marske United for digging in to snatch a result.

It was the hosts who took the lead in the latter stages of the second half. Chances had come at a premium, so when Calvin McCarthy lobbed Mike Algie, the contest seemed all but over.

Despite growing frustrations, Charlie Watt stepped up to tuck away a free kick in the third minute of stoppage time. His late goal stretched the Seasiders’ unbeaten run to a respectable three games.

Despite his concerns over the performance, Paul Burton was pleased to take a point back to Teesside. The boss agreed that where winning didn’t look possible, it was simply important not to lose.

“Massively.” He said.

“We did say that to them before the game. We feel that anything we get away from home is a bonus.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed with the performance. I don’t think we got going at all, really. I’m just pleased that we stuck at it and got something out of it in the end.

“You’ve got to give Newcastle Benfield credit. I think they worked extremely hard. They shut it down for us and didn’t give us many real opportunities to try and play football, and it became a scrap really.

“The ball was in the air a lot. There were a lot of free kicks, throw-ins. The game just never got going really, and I think that suited them, a little bit like it did us against Shildon on Tuesday night.

“We didn’t give Shildon much room on Tuesday, and now today Benfield have done that to us. They’ve worked extremely hard.

“I can see why they’ve picked two results up in their two previous games.

It was important to get that goal at the end. If you had asked me at halftime I would probably have taken a point then.

“I just couldn’t see it being a game where we could get our foot on the ball and try to play. It was just scrappy and there was very limited chances for both teams.

“It was just a struggle really. You could see we were getting frustrated. The goal was disappointing. One ball gets beats us again and their lad gets in behind us.

“We’ve got to be able to come away and get results and win games of football. We certainly didn’t do enough to win it today, but I’m glad we didn’t lose it.”