Ada Gower admitted he was “gutted” to see Canterbury City leave Homelands with only a point after a 1-1 Southern Counties East League draw against landlords Ashford United at Homelands on Monday.

They led courtesy of Steve Baines’ eighth-minute opener, – his second goal in successive games – only for a mistake by usually reliable goalkeeper Roddy Hayward, to gift United their equaliser as he allowed Ollie Finch’s long ball into the area, hit from the halfway line, to slip through his hands and into the net.

Gower said: “It was uncharacteristic by Roddy, he is normally so steady and solid.
“I don’t think the wet conditions helped and it was just one of those things.
“I would have been happy to take a point before the game but we should have had all three. We had more chances than they did.

“Even though they had more possession, we had three clear-cut opportunities, while they only had one, when Roddy made a great save.”

The result extended City’s unbeaten run to four games, following the 3-2 win at Erith Town on Saturday, Baines getting the 89th-minute winner with a 50-yard strike as they came from behind twice to claim the points.

Gower said: “It was a great goal, we were all shouting ‘don’t shoot’ and he just hit it and it went in.

“It made it a good week for us. I was hoping to win at Ashford and get manager-of-the-month but that’s not going to happen.”

The City boss has signed two players, defender Nick Blackman and striker Chris Lewis on loan from Ramsgate.

City host Sussex County League Pagham in the FA Cup preliminary round at Ashford on Sunday.