NELSON boss Paul Fildes admitted he was gutted after his side twice threw away a winning position to draw 4-4 with Padiham in the North West Counties League Premier Division.

Fildes was returning to the Arbories for the first time since leaving in November to take charge of the Admirals, coming up against his former boss Steve Wilkes after taking players, including two-goal Tom Bradley and keeper Sean Davis, with him.

And Fildes, who claimed his first point as Nelson boss in the eight-goal thriller, said the return to his former club meant an awful lot.

Fildes said: “I did not have to say much because a lot of the lads, like Tom Bradley and Sean Davis, have been at Padiham with me and at Padiham with Steve Wilkes and they have left for certain reasons.

“They knew how important it was to me to do well. Even as a player, when you go back to your old club it means everything.

“Deep down you want to score and win. It meant a lot to me. If we had won that game I would have stripped off and run round the town naked.

“I hope I am right in saying this but I think we are both in a false position in the league table. But with the games being called off only time will tell.”

The two sides remain locked together at 16th and 17th in the table after sharing the spoils on Saturday.

Nelson led 3-1 with five minutes to go and were pegged back to 3-3, only to then score a penalty in the final minute. But that was not the end of the drama as the Storks’ Daley Woods completed a hat-trick with an injury-time leveller.

But Fildes, who said he was unable to sleep after the game, believes his side should have claimed their first victory since October 24.

“We dominated the game in my opinion, and speaking to Padiham spectators they said ‘You deserved to win that game’,” he said.

“It was a scrappy last 10 minutes. They pulled it back to 3-3. I was thinking ‘How have we chucked this away?’.

"Then we got a penalty in the final minute and there were six minutes added on. There had been a few substitutions but never six minutes.

“We were on the back foot and we had players cramping up. You could see it was coming. I was just praying we would see it out but they managed to claw it back.

“A 4-4 in a derby is not bad but I nearly had a heart attack.

“I took a lot of positives from the game.

“Nelson have got a very small budget this season — it is about team morale.

“After what I fielded against a team who I know have a bigger budget, I am really proud of my team. We were head and shoulders above them.”