Cathal Heffernan goal extends Harrogate’s unbeaten run to five matches

Cathal Heffernan’s first EFL goal earned Harrogate 1-1 draw with Cheltenham in Sky Bet League Two.

The 20-year-old former Newcastle centre-back cancelled out Isaac Hutchinson’s 14th goal of the season for the visitors to extend the Sulphurites’ unbeaten run to a fifth game.

A victory would have lifted Harrogate out of the relegation zone for the first time since December.

But the North Yorkshire team, who are now level on points with third-bottom Barrow, can still take encouragement from a contest they would have won but for the second-half heroics of Cheltenham goalkeeper Joe Day.

Neither side mustered a shot on target during the opening 45 minutes, with visiting striker George Miller squandering the best opportunity to open the scoring midway through the half.

Miller was picked out perfectly by Arkell Jude-Boyd’s curling cross from the right but failed to make meaningful contact four yards out with the home goal at his mercy.

The deadlock was broken within a minute of the restart with Jake Bickerstaff charging to the left byline and pulling a ball back that Hutchinson guided inside the far post from 12 yards.

That lead proved short-lived, however, when Heffernan’s near-post header from an inswinging Reece Smith corner looped over Day in the 50th minute.

Day went on deny Bryn Morris, Smith, Ellis Taylor and Bobby Faulkner as the home side exerted pressure.

However, the Gloucestershire team clung on to extend their own undefeated sequence to a fourth fixture.