James at the double but Blues are held at Virginia Water

Gavin James (centre)

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The honours were even in an entertaining local derby between Burnham FC and Virginia Water at Stag Meadow on Tuesday night with the match concluding 2-2.

In a first half largely dominated by the Blues, hosts Virginia Water took the lead somewhat against the run of play on the 31st minute when Marc Lansdowne headed home from a corner.

Notable chances continued to crop up for both teams with Burnham battling their way back into the game with attempts that could only crash back off the woodwork.

Fortunately, their persistence prevailed and the Blues were able to equalise on the fourth minute of first half injury time when Gavin James found the back of the net from a penalty kick.

The Waters were free-flowing after the break and regained their lead when Casey Bocarro tapped home a well-worked cross from Paul Burrow in the 66th minute.

Undeterred, Burnham restored parity and salvaged a point when a through ball found James who converted well for his and the visitors’ second goal in the 70th minute.

After the match, Burnham boss Ashleigh James said: “I’m disappointed we didn’t pick up the win because we dominated large parts of the game.

“But it’s becoming a bit of a recurrence for us that we’re giving away cheap goals and as long as we keep doing that, we’re always going to be on the back foot.

“There were definite positives to take and we will keep working with those in mind and hopefully get some luck soon.”