We leave Meadow Park with a second successive clean sheet as the points were shared against Truro City on Thursday evening.
Gerard Benfield, in the starting line-up for the first time since our 4-2 loss to Hampton & Richmond Borough two months ago, prevented the hosts from taking the lead twice in the second half to ensure that our defence held firm once more.
We had chances of our own, notably in the first half as James Hamon dived to his right to keep out Ezio Touray’s first-time shot.
Though we again failed to score, and suffered three injuries after the break, our firm defence was a notable positive as we now head into our final game of the season on Saturday.
A return to winning ways before the season’s close would leave us on 59 points, 11 points higher than the previous season, which gave us our Great Escape.
Mark Molesley made two changes following our goalless draw in Welling last Saturday.
In came Benfield and Olu Durojaiye, both making their first start in at least two months.
Touray was then brought into the starting line-up minutes before kick-off, replacing Harry Parsons.
Much of the first half was controlled by our players, the first chance coming after six minutes when Tom Bearwish had his shot blocked.
Keelan O’Connell then had a go barely a minute later, his curling effort landing straight into the hands of Hamon.
Our early chances suggested we would soon put the ball in the back of the net.
After 11 minutes, we did, courtesy of Touray
His strike would have given us the lead, too, had he not been penalised for a supposed handball.
Referee Declan Brown had judged our forward to have handled the ball when dispossessing Will Dean before his disallowed goal.
Meanwhile, Truro’s most impressive piece of play came via a nutmeg four minutes later, Dom Johnson-Fisher sliding the ball through the legs of Charlie Rowan, who then received a booking for bringing down the Truro forward.
But, despite Johnson-Fisher’s splendid skill, the goal-scoring opportunities continued to head our way.
Bearwish had another shot blocked at the quarter-hour mark, before our biggest chance of the half came eight minutes on.
Touray struck first-time at Hamon from close-range, who dived to his right to keep the shot out, and more importantly for the hosts, the scoreline level.
The rest of the half then petered out, with the exception of Truro’s first effort at goal two minutes before the break.
Ryan Kavanagh attempted to curl past Benfield, instead sending the ball left of goal, as both teams headed down the tunnel goalless.
The second half began with the first of three injuries to our players, when O’Connell was replaced by Frankie Monk with what appeared to be a blow to the ankle one minute into the second half.
Our fortunes failed to improve nearly 20 minutes on, when a Bearwish hamstring issue forced him off, in place of Joel Rollinson, as the game ticked on.
After a period of inactivity from both sides, the first notable chance of the second half headed the hosts’ way.
Former-Terra Matt Buse’s powerful strike forced Benfield to push away with his left hand, as Truro finally registered their first shot on target with a little over 20 minutes remaining.
We responded quickly, Dan Roberts curling just right of Hamon’s goal, before Rowan was forced off with 16 minutes left of regular time.
Then, five minutes later, some neat one-touch play fed the ball from Parsons to Brandon Goodship, who saw his effort saved.
Substitute Frankie Monk then had a chance with just two minutes remaining, and may have given us a late lead had it not been for Hamon’s heroics once again.
Then, with the game now in stoppage time, the opportunity was there for either side to walk away with all three points.
Perhaps against the run of play, that final chance headed the hosts’ way.
Ryan Law’s strike forced a crucial save from Benfield, who managed to keep the ball out.
With there being no more time for a late winner, the two teams walked away with the points shared.
This marks somewhat of an improvement for us, having lost our previous three away games to The Tinners before last night.
Our steady progression in form now sets us up for one final league game this season, at home to Farnborough Town [15.00 BST].
Match report
By Jack Webb
