In the opening stages, the Blues did all the attacking and should have been in front as early as the second minute when Luke Hargreaves’ through ball sent Chris Ogunyode racing down the left wing and his low cross was somehow missed by Lance Ogunyode in front of goal. 

As Nelson enjoyed most of the attacking play, another unbelievable let-off for the visitors came on 15 minutes when Martin Payne saw his shot strike both posts of the goal before rebounding to safety after a great run by Ashley Higgins had set up the chance. 

But almost inevitably, the Blues conceded a soft goal after 23 minutes when their defence needlessly lost the ball in their own half and, although Chris Thompson did well to block a close range shot, he was helpless to prevent Steve Smith from forcing the loose ball home. 

A superb move on the half hour involving Chris Ogunyode, Luke Hargreaves and Anthony Young ended when Ashley Williams was brought down in the visitors’ penalty area but the referee waved aside Nelson’s claims.   

Nelson continued to pressurise the visitors’ defence and, with half time looming, Lance Ogunyode picked up a miskicked clearance and sent Chris Ogunyode racing into the penalty area on a through ball.  The referee appeared to award a penalty when Ogunyode went down under challenge from Bacup keeper Paul Horridge but changed his mind after consulting his assistant. 

Five minutes into the second half, Nelson at last drew level when Ashley Williams’ cross from the right of goal was knocked home by Martin Payne with the outside of his right foot. 

With Nelson’s next attack, Ashley Higgins saw his shot blocked at the near post but, as play swung to the other end, Luke Hargreaves made a vital clearance to hack the ball out of the Nelson goalmouth after Chris Thompson had blocked Warren Collier’s shot. 

After 59 minutes, Nelson took the lead when a free kick just outside the visitors’ penalty area came back off the defensive wall before being crossed into the goalmouth where Lance Ogunyode blasted a half volley into the roof of the net. 

Martin Payne almost increased Nelson’s lead with his shot across the goal-line minutes later but Bacup began to look more dangerous with the introduction of their substitutes.  Martin Cosgrave saw his shot deflected just wide of the Nelson goal and, from the corner, a downward header bounced up against the Nelson crossbar. 

After 76 minutes, the Nelson defence succumbed to the pressure when Marc Berry and Chris Thompson got in a tangle and presented the ball to Scott Taylor who found the net with a shot into the bottom corner from an easy chance to level the scores at 2-2. 

It was a disappointing end to an improved performance by Nelson and the Blues will need to avoid costly defensive mistakes if they hope to achieve better results. 

Nelson are at home to Ramsbottom United in a re-arranged fixture on Saturday before travelling to Holt House to meet Colne next Wednesday night.