Ebbsfleet United 1 Exeter 1

EBBSFLEET UNITED were held to a 1-1 draw against fellow promotion hopefuls Exeter City in the Blue Square Premier at Stonebridge Road on Saturday.

Midfielder Stacy Long tested Exeter keeper Andy Marriott after just five minutes but his shot was well tipped over by the former Boston United man.

The home side's early domination eventually paid off when John Akinde used his pace to get past Daniel Seaborne before being brought down in the area.

Referee David Coote showed no hesitation in pointing to the spot and McPhee stepped up to fire the resulting penalty low into the bottom right corner.

Luke Moore then had a glorious chance to increase Fleet's lead on 27 minutes but his shot was tipped over by Marriott. Marriott was called into action again just before the break, this time getting down low to his right to save Moore's shot from an Akinde flick.

In the second half, the visitors came out strongly and pulled level in the 49th minute. Matt Taylor's initial shot was saved by Lance Cronin but Dean Moxey played the ball back out to Matthew Gill who fired it into the bottom corner.

After outplaying Exeter in the first half, Fleet struggled to create many openings during the second period.

Exeter almost grabbed all three points in the 83rd minute but Lance Cronin did well to tip Adam Stansfield's lob round the post.

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Ebbsfleet: Cronin, Opinel, Smith, McCarthy, Long, McPhee, Barrett, Ricketts, Moore, Akinde, Bostwick (Eribenne 69mins).

Subs not used: French, Coleman, Purcell, Bull.

Attendance: 1,617.
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