Faversham let a 2-0 lead slip to draw 2-2 against dark horses South Park at Salters Lane on Wednesday night to put a dent in their own Ryman League, Division 1 South play-off hopes.

Josh Stanford put them in front before George Monger doubled the lead seven minutes after the interval, only for Dale Burgess to pull one back almost immediately.

Keiran Lavery then got Park's second nine minutes from time, with the visitors having defender Asa Rixon-Nicholls sent off in stoppage-time.

The result leaves Town nine points outside the top-five after their 3-2 loss at third-placed Greenwich Borough last weekend.

With Molesey to visit the Shepherd Neame Stadium on Saturday (3pm) and a game at Whyteleafe on Tuesday (7.45pm), Town are into their final 10 games of an eventful campaign and boss Ray Turner says it’s time to go all-out to complete a remarkable turn around.

He said: “Only wins will do. We can’t really afford to lose games but then a draw is not a lot of good to anyone, either. It’s going to be a case of balancing it out.

“We are massive underdogs still but you have to give credit to the players for getting us into the conversation.”

Town fell 2-0 down at Greenwich but bossed much of the second half and Turner said: “We just ran out of time. We didn’t react until we were 2-0 down and then the third goal on the breakaway sealed it.

“There are fine margins at this stage and we have got to learn how to win those games.”
He added: “We have got to go for it from here. When we went 2-0 down, the shackles came off and we played with freedom and no pressure on us – it almost got us a result.

“We have got to give it everything and play with a smile on our face from now on.

“We are not the sort of club that can rely on our resources and cruise. We have to work for every single point.”

Saturday’s defeat was a sixth in as many games against sides currently in the top three – the others being Tooting and Dorking – and Turner admitted: “Our results against the really top sides have not been good enough.”

Town have also lost 10 of their 16 games against sides in the top-nine – claiming just 12 points – and Turner added: “We have got to improve on that in the remainder of the season, although our fixtures during the run-in are not that bad.”

“This season is keeping everyone interested, (fourth-placed) Carshalton keep dangling the carrot (by not winning) and offering hope to teams.”

George Monger is back from a two-match ban but Liam King is awaiting the results of a scan on a knee injury picked up at Molesey last month and Turner added: “We are still hoping it’s not an op.”