Spoils are shared in 10 goal thriller

Bann started well and controlled the majority of possession for the first 10 minutes and were rewarded when their first penalty corner was dispatched by a McCandless drag flick.

The Bann goal seemed to spur Cookstown into action and they were soon level after the ball fell to an unmarked Cookstown player at the back post who tapped the ball home.

Cookstown were now on a roll and took the lead when the ball was fired into the circle and was excellently deflected past the helpless Bingham.

Cookstown continued to press forward and from their first short corner extended their lead with a drag flick from the top of the circle.

Bann were unlucky not to pull a goal back when Woods fired in a couple of excellent reverse stick strikes.

Bann came out looking to get back into the game however were hit with a quick Cookstown counter attack and the Cookstown forward made no mistake from close range.

Bann had nothing to lose now and started to press forward. A quick attack through Woods and Bell lead to a Bann short corner and McCandless fired the ball high into the top corner. McCandless, now playing higher up the pitch, sent a strong ball into the circle and the ball was deflected past the Cookstown keeper by one of his own players to reduce their lead further.

Caruth was causing the Cookstown defence all sorts of problems and found the equaliser when he was on hand to pick up a rebound from a McCandless drag flick.

Bann were in the ascendency and after Anderson found himself in an advanced position crashed the ball into the circle and Bell evaded his marker to deflect the ball in and give Bann the lead.

The epic game had a final twist when Cookstown countered quickly and managed to equalise with a sliding deflection in the last five minutes.

Bann travel to Annadale next week to take on the league leaders.