Gravesend 1 Scarborough 1

GRAVESEND & Northfleet warmed up for their big day in front of the Sky cameras with a draw against Scarborough.

With both teams having FA Cup ties next weekend - Fleet entertain Notts County while Borough travel to Port Vale - this game was unlikely to be a classic. And the heavy downpour on Saturday hardly helped any attempts to play attractive football.

But Fleet adapted to the windy conditions better in the first half and took a deserved lead in the 13th minute. Steve Perkins gathered a cross from Andrew Drury and beat two defenders before placing the ball into the back of the net.

Fleet gained plenty of momentum from the goal and came close to doubling their lead after 19 minutes when Steve McKimm’s point-blank effort was deflected wide.

After 25 minutes Dennis Oli showed why Fleet had loaned him from Queen's Park Rangers by skinning two defenders and putting in a decent cross - only to see Rob Owens’' shot cleared off the line.

But for all their pressure Gravesend failed to build on their lead before the break, a fact that was to prove costly.

The match tightened up after the restart, with Scarborough stemming the home team’s flow of chances.

Then, with 17 minutes left on the clock, Fleet were hit by a counter punch when Colin Cryan headed home a Jimmy Kelly corner.

Suddenly Fleet’s three points were reduced to one and even that looked under threat when substitute James Pinnock got a red card for a foul on Cryan.

The 10-men of Gravesend were forced to perform a rearguard action for the rest of the game to hold on to a draw.

Fleet manager Andy Ford said: “It was a game of two halves because of the strong winds. We had three good chances in the first 45 minutes but only took one of them.

“If we had got a second goal we would have probably gone on to win.”

Gravesend & Northfleet: Wilkerson, Lee, Shearer, Moore, McClements, Owen, McKimm, Perkins, Drury (Walshe, 58 minds), Haworth (Pinnock, 74 mins), Oli. Subs not used: Protheroe, Duku, O'Reilly