Accrington 3 Gravesend & N 3

GRAVESEND & Northfleet surrendered a two-goal lead as Accrington staged a comeback masterminded by veteran substitute John Durnin to earn a share of the Nationwide Conference points.

Stanley started well and went in front on seven minutes after Rory Prendergast drove home a shot into the bottom left hand corner.

Roy Essandoh equalised for Fleet on 27 minutes, steering home a Moussa Sidibe cross and five minutes later Steve Perkins found the top right hand corner from 30 yards out.

Essandoh put Fleet 3-1 ahead three minutes before the break with a header from Ben Surey’s corner

But Durnin came on for Damien Hindle on the hour mark and immediately made an impact, scoring five minutes later with a shot from the edge of the area.

Less than a minute later he equalised for the home side with a second superb volley, again from the edge of the box.

Fleet manager Andy Ford said: “I think when you get 3-1 lead away from home you have to defend better than we did for their last two goals.

“We got ourselves in a great position and thought we were going to come away with the three points.

“Instead we were under the cosh right from the start of the second half and we committed schoolboy errors to allow them back into the game”

Gravesend: Mitten, Gledhill, Moore, Skinner, Shearer, Sidibe, Perkins, McKimm, Surey, Drury, Essandoh.