KINGSWINFORD Hockey Club’s promotion hopes suffered a body blow as they drew 3-3 at Newtown.

Things looked promising when Billy Jawanda gave Kings an early lead with a wonderful strike into the roof of the net.

But missed chances proved costly as Newtown took advantage of some half-hearted play to score three quick goals and gain control.

It wasn’t until deep in the second-half Kings finally awoke from their slumber.

They pulled one back when a home defender panicked under pressure from Surjit Takhar and deflected Sam George’s cross into his own net.

A neat lay-off routine between Jawanda and Takhar then allowed Kaz Purewal to slot home the equaliser from five yards out. Despite pressing late on, Kings couldn’t find the winner.

Skipper Adam Pritchard said: “We now only have a faint chance of promotion. We have just not played well since Christmas.

“It’s almost as if we turn up expecting to win. That never happens in hockey no matter how good you are.

“We will now be missing our best player, Billy Jawanda, for a few weeks and we must all pull our weight and show we are capable of playing good hockey.

“We will not tolerate poor performances from anybody in the squad.”

Next week is make or break for Kings when they take on high-flying Bromsgrovians.

The second XI fared better as they recorded a 1-0 win over Kidderminster despite not having a recognised keeper.

In a keenly-contested game, Ravi Johal scored the only goal midway through the first-half when he converted Julian Turner’s cross.

The seconds next match is away at Bloxwich.