Veteran goalkeeper Nicky Brujos was both hero and villain as Sligo left Drogheda with a share of the points last night.

Brujos was partly to blame as the home side took the lead through Fergal Coleman after 21 minutes. But he made up for his earlier error with a superb one-handed save from the same player in injury time to avoid defeat.

Tommy Cassidy's first point as Sligo manager was achieved at a cost, however, as the influential Paul Bonnar retired with a suspected broken leg on the stroke of half-time following a two-footed tackle by Drogheda's Darren O'Keeffe.

O'Keeffe was fortunate to escape with just a yellow card but the cost to Sligo could have been greater as the home side became increasingly dominant in the second half.

Drogheda's goal came courtesy of a misunderstanding in the Sligo defence between Brujos and Bonnar which allowed Coleman in to score his second goal of the season.

It was no more than the home side deserved at that stage. But they lost their way for the remainder of the half as Sligo took control. The equaliser, which was richly deserved, came just nine minutes before half-time. And it was a superb effort by Bonnar who cut in from the right before leaving Garret Byrne absolutely no chance.

DROGHEDA UNITED: G Byrne, A Murphy, Thornton, Impey, Maher, O'Keeffe, McCann, C Murphy, Coleman, O'Dowd, Byrne. Subs: Redins for McCann (70 mins), Fitzell for M Byrne (88 mins).

SLIGO: Brujos, Davey, Bonnar, Gilroy, Sheridan, Charles, I Lynch, Birks, K Lynch, O'Grady, Moran. Subs: D Lynch for Bonnar (half-time), Kalid el Khalifi for Gilroy (83 mins).

Referee: P Whelan (Dublin).