Chichester and Shoreham swap late goals - but no-one's the winner

It was honours evens in a 2-2 draw at Oaklands Park as Shoreham held firm to deny Chichester back-to-back wins for the first time since November.

City manager Adie Girdler was absent so assistant Dave Kelly named a side unchanged from the one who had beaten Redhill.

An early effort from Mike Turvey forced a save from keeper Steve Allfrey. Turvey had leapt to meet a Michael Long cross.

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Wing-back Timmy Harunah began to cause his opponents problems with his fast feet and attacking prowess.

Harunah skipped past his man in the 13th minute before crossing for Callum Cutler. The central-midfielder shot fiercely but it was straight at Allfrey.

Allfrey was soon scrambling across his goal in vain to keep out a Jamie Ford volley. A 16th-minute Joe Briggs corner eluded everyone but City’s captain fantastic, who put his side ahead.

Kelly’s side had a penalty appeal turned down after Long claimed he was kicked. Despite the striker needing treatment for his injury, the linesman stated the ball had been won first.

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The referee was again at the centre of controversy after ruling out a second Chichester goal for offisde.

Harunah had broken out wide before passing to Long, who scored from close range. A bemused Long held his head in his hands, signalling he had tracked his run across the Shoreham defensive line perfectly.

Two minutes after the break, Shoreham’s Charlie Walker equalised, skipping past a flat-footed Shaun Benjamin before firing home.

The game began to fall into a lull, with neither side able to retain possession. Both sides were guilty of wasting opportunities. Cutler was left shaking his head in frustration after volleying wide from close-range after further good work from Turvey. In the 85th minute, Chichester were caught napping when Josh Daly received a short corner before putting the away side in the lead for the first time.

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The super-sub must have thought he’d won the game for the visitors but boss Kelly’s final battle-cry sank into his team when defender Tom Broadbent equalised just 30 seconds after his side had conceded.

It was a sublime volley from outside the box that flew past Allfrey, rooted to the spot.

Kelly said: “I’m not happy with a point, far from it. But we did keep our concentration and focus and responded well to going behind.”

CHICHESTER: Hitchman, Archer, Haruna, Broadbent, Benjamin, Ford, Briggs, Cutler, Turvey, Long, Brockway. Subs: Sell, Stent, Wallace, Kilner.

JACK PRESTON