Austin Aztex kicked off their inaugural USL-First Division campaign on Saturday evening as they hosted the Minnesota Thunder.

The match, which was attended by a superb crowd of 4,891, saw City's affiliates pick up a 1-1 draw against a side dubbed by many as one of the favourites for the Championship.

An entertaining affair saw the visitors take the lead just seven minutes into the second half, thanks to an individual piece of brilliance from Leonel Saint-Preux.

Adrian Heath's side almost responded immediately though, and only the foot of the post denied former Stoke star Gifton Noel-Williams an equaliser after he powered a header past the keeper, following good work on the left flank from Kyle Brown.

A goal did follow just ten minutes later and it was thanks to the impressive Lyle Adams who crashed home an unstoppable effort from almost 30-yards, to send the majority of the supporters at Nelson Field into euphoria.

The hosts pushed forward late on in search of a winner, however, despite the efforts of Adams and Sullivan Silva the visitors held on to deny the Aztex an opening day success.

Speaking following the match, manager Heath said he was satisfied by the performance and the outcome.

"I thought we were better in the second half. We were nervous when we started," he told austinaztex.com.

"The game was food for thought. If we had started better, we could have relaxed sooner. I thought we would nick it in the end but it wasn't to be."

For a full match report from the game click HERE

The Aztex are back in action again this coming Tuesday when they host the Vancouver Whitecaps, who slipped to a 2-1 defeat against reigning champions Puerto Rico Islanders over the weekend.

As always stokecityfc.com will bring you all the action from that match right here on Wednesday.