Their Premier survival may only be hanging by a mathematical thread, but Ireland Rangers were a team of winners last night ? and their first point of the season was deservedly celebrated with hugs and high fives.

If you are just to collect a single point in a whole season, as the Malabar-based team are highly likely to do, then you might as well do it style, and Rangers can certainly say they did that, battling back from 3-1 down after just 19 minutes to avoid the ignominy of a pointless season.

The draw meant everything to the visitors but it also will be a night that defines the season of the home team. Not only do they have to put up with the ridicule of failing to whip the whipping boys, but they also effectively kissed the league title goodbye by wasting the chance to pick up the three points in what should have been a banker home victory.

Although Rangers deserve praise for the manner of their draw ? which they clung on to dearly in a desperate second half ? Trojans showed they are not a team with championship credentials, as they had appeared in the first half of the season, because they simply did not have the killer touch to dispose of a side who were dead on their feet by midway through the second period.

The usual Rangers drubbing appeared to be on the cards after just six minutes when Rohaan Simons sprung the offside trap and raced through to slide the ball past Ricky Tucker, the goalkeeper with comfortably the most thankless job in Bermuda football.

But rather than the expected rout materialising, Rangers managed to pull one back almost immediately with the impressive Shakir Smith breaking down the left wing before firing under the advancing Timmy Figuereido.

Normality returned in the 13th minute when Stephen Astwood loitered on the edge of the box during a corner and was happy to fire the half-clearance back through a thicket of legs to give his side the lead again.

The inevitable victory appeared assured just six minutes later when Sean Simmons managed to force his head onto the end of a looping cross to scramble the ball in with Tucker lying prone.

Two goals to the good, Trojans were clearly in the driving seat but their inability to protect their lead even against Ireland Rangers was painful to watch.

The break came once again from the left-hand side, Henry Santucci the next player to benefit from a defence caught square, although he chose instead to lob the advancing ?keeper.

Nine minutes later and an almost identical break down the same wing saw Jonathan Bean also opt for the aerial finish to the attack down the left-hand side.

With six goals in one half, the crowd ? typically small given the unattractiveness of the visitors ? were expecting plenty more excitement but they were to be denied.

Although chances were plentiful, the visitors were clearly keen to sit on their point and adopted a defensive, clock-sapping approach as early as the 46th minute to try and close out for the draw.

Sometimes they took a rough approach ? and referee Jose Pimentel was certainly kept busier after the break ? sometimes they just slowed things down but they did enough to frustrate the home side who huffed and puffed ineffectually for large periods.

Chances began to creep in for Dennis Brown?s men as fatigue began to ravage the Rangers side, but they bravely soldiered on and after weathering some Astwood-inspired storms, they finally got that final whistle and their draw.

Like on so many other occasions this season, Ireland Rangers had tried their hardest, but this time ? and for the first time this season ? their struggle wasn?t pointless.: T. Figureido, M. Dill (D. Burgess, 35 mins), A. Lambert, M. Butterfield, D. Minors, S. Simmons, A. Williams, C. Moulder, S. Astwood, R. Simons, Q. Aberdeen. R. Tucker, J. Rogers, S. Brangman, J. Saltus, C. Anderson, A. Trott, T. Mallory, S. Smith, C. Grant, H. Santucci, J. Bean.: R. Simons (Trojans) S. Smith (Rangers)A. Williams, D. Minors (Trojans) S. Smith, J. Rogers, T. Mallory (Rangers)Jose Pimentel.