Lewes boss Steven King warned his patched-up side will not be bullied out of the Blue Square south title race after a battling 1-1 draw at Bath City on Saturday saw their lead at the summit cut to two points.

An own goal from Bath skipper Jim Rollo, which was initially credited to Rooks' Andy Drury, handed Lewes a flying start at Twerton Park but Scott Rogers restored parity four minutes later and the play-off chasing hosts could have claimed all three points in the second period.

King had slammed Bath's rugged approach after Lewes' 1-0 win at the Dripping Pan on December 1 and was clearly unhappy with the treatment suffered by his players in the return fixture, with Gary Holloway having to leave the field in the closing stages with an eye injury inflicted by an Adie Harris challenge.

King said: "They tried to rough us up. It was as clear as anything.

"Their No.6 (Harris) has run around like a headless chicken. He's committed seven fouls in the game and how he has stayed on the pitch is a joke.

"He was booked but he should have been sent off. It was the same at our place, where he also got away with it.

"The elbow on Gary Holloway was a joke - it was like he had been hit by Tyson.

Dirty "They've come on with the strong-arm, dirty tactics, which is a shame because they can actually play football.

"When they did start to play football in the second half, it became a football match and that's what it's all about.

"You don't need to kick people off the park but everyone sees where we are and says the way you turn Lewes over is by getting into them', but we're not an easy nut to crack.

"We stood up and were counted and, on reflection, it was a fair result."

On-loan Brentford striker Charlie Ide made his debut alongside top-scorer Paul Booth in attack as King was forced into a reshuffle, with several key first-teamers missing through injury.

He said: "I would have settled for a point before the game because of the way we are with the injuries - we're asking people to play out of position and with knocks, it's horrendous.

"We have seven players out and I've had to juggle things around. There are people out there with broken toes and strapped-up wrists and the character came through."

Ide had already seen a close-range header turned behind by Bath goalkeeper Paul Evans from Steve Robinson's knock-down when Rollo put the title-chasing visitors ahead in the eighth minute.

Holloway was fouled by Gethin Jones on the left and Simon Wormull's right-footed free-kick skimmed off Drury's head and on to Rollo's shoulder, completely wrong-footing Evans as the ball bounced into the centre of his net.

But Lewes failed to build on their good start and Rogers smashed home the equaliser from a couple of yards out after Chris Holland's towering header from a Lewis Hogg free-kick found him completely unmarked with only Steve Williams to beat.

Williams spilled a Darren Edwards volley moments later and needed the alert Jay Conroy to spare his blushes, the right-back blocking Dave Gilroy's follow-up effort.

The second half saw Bath tighten up at the back and Lewes' best chance arrived when Evans dropped Tom Davis' cross but Matt Coupe cleared the danger a yard in front of his own line.

Gilroy shot wastefully over the bar for Bath when presented with a chance to steal all the points.

Bath City: Evans, G Jones, Rollo, Coupe, Holland, Harris (S Jones 60), Hogg, Rogers, Edwards, Gilroy (Partridge 82), Wood (Prince 71). Subs not used: McKay, Simpson.

Lewes: Williams, Conroy, Barness, Davis, Robinson, Simpemba, Drury, Holloway (Groves 81), Ide (Hamilton 90mins), Booth, Wormull. Subs not used: Sigere, Barr, Wheeler.

Referee: Mr G Muge (Luton).

Attendance: 856.

Bognor player-coach Darin Killpartrick has appealed to his side to keep their cool to avoid being dragged into the relegation zone.

Killpartrick was disappointed with a scrappy goalless draw against fellow strugglers Dorchester at Nyewood Lane.

He said: "It was two points dropped. We need to be taking three off the teams around us.

"We didn't move the ball around as well as we can do or take the two or three chances which came our way.

"We need to be a lot calmer and composed and playing our own game to get results."

Rocks returning striker Luke Nightingale came on as a substitute following a long-term shoulder injury.

Bognor: Stoner, Sankoh (Knee), Jupp, Breach, Balfe, Wallis-Taylor, Harris (Nightingale), Greatwich (Birmingham), Chamberlain, Beck, Haddow. Sub not used: Dunk.