IAN Street said beforehand he would treat this game as an exam by which he could measure his team’s progress.

They did better than their predicted grade, matching most observers’ favourites to win the title in front of the biggest crowd to watch a Premier Division fixture this season.

Both teams could make a case they might have won.

Their goalkeepers, Matthew Conkie for 1874 Northwich and Linnets’ Richie Mottram, are the reason neither did.

In sodden conditions, they never looked likely to slip up.

Mottram made the game’s decisive intervention, stopping Paul Connor’s penalty kick in the first half with a save as smart as it was strong.

His instincts served him better still when he diverted Mike Brandon’s skidding header to safety at the start of the second period.

When Conkie stretched later on to tip Chris Lomax’s drive around an upright, a draw felt the most deserving result.

Those beacons of brilliance illuminated a frenetic encounter.

Where composure was lacking, commitment filled the empty space and in a first half that teetered too often towards tetchiness, six players were shown yellow cards.

Michael Duffy’s ought to have been red after he tripped Neil Chappell in shooting stride inside Linnets’ penalty area after 19 minutes.

Connor’s resulting penalty was struck true, but Mottram’s save was stunning.

If Duffy should have been sent off, then Runcorn fans will argue the same punishment was due when Ryan Mitchell’s dangerously high tackle floored Kyle Hamid.

1874’s best spell of pressure followed, during which Matthew Ward crept clear only to shoot straight at Runcorn’s goalkeeper.

Brandon’s attempt on the turn then skimmed an upright to leave Linnets relieved to hear the half-time whistle.

The striker connected cleanly with Connor’s cross shortly after the interval, prompting Mottram to produce another brilliant block.

Runcorn reacted, for the first time reconciling their performance with their position in the table.

In Kevin Towey, switched inside from his starting position on the right, they had a forward who carried a threat in behind the hosts’ defence with clever running off the ball.

From his most incisive dribble, he conjured a chance that Lomax blazed over in the closing stages.

On an earlier occasion, the same player at least forced Conkie to make that spectacular stop.

By then 1874’s threat was sporadic, though Ward was disappointed to miss the target after Brandon and Connor shredded the left of Linnets’ defence to conjure an opening.

Chappell did so all on his own with 12 minutes left, a lung-bursting run leaving him bereft of strength with which to shoot, instead dragging wide.

Of the test’s outcome, Street stressed only positives.

He said: “I’m happy, and got a lot of the answers I was looking for.

“A small part of me thinks we did enough to nick it – we certainly had chances too in the first half.”

A must do (a bit) better then, if you like?

No matter, they have a chance to re-sit at Millbank Linnets Stadium in February.

1874 (3-5-2) Conkie (GK), Mitchell, Thomas, Duckworth, Connor, Jones, Woolley, Chappell, Tandy, Ward, Brandon (Beadle 82) Subs not used Woods, Abdullah, Bailey, Short Booked Woolley, Jones, Brandon (fouls) Thomas (handball)

Linnets (4-3-3) Mottram (GK), Duffy, White, Burke, Cross, Smith (Wade 42), Ellison (Bellew 87), Hamid, Lomax, Towey, Atherton (Houghton 79) Subs not used Crowder, Adamson Booked Burke (dissent), Duffy, White, Ellison (all fouls)

Referee Leslie Sinclair

Attendance 563