Woodwork foils Whitehawk

John Beales put Margate ahead in the 20th minute and Charlie Henry, one of last week’s four new signings, equlaised from the penalty spot just before the interval.

A draw was a fair result, but Hawks almost snatched the extra points five minutes from time when Raphael Rossi-Branco struck the woodwork.

Whitehawk are ten points clear of second-placed Wealdstone, who had no game, but are once again in a position where they can be caught by two clubs if they win their matches in hand.

One of them are Concord, who trail Wealdstone only on goal difference with a game in hand and have played four fewer matches than the leaders.

They had to fight for their 3-2 home win over Bury, who took the lead twice: a Matt Fry own goal on the stroke of half-time and a 62nd-minute effort from Richard Logan, which came two minutes after Leon Gordon had made it 1-1. Jason Hallett levelled it again in the 72nd minute and Tony Stokes nabbed the winner with eight minutes left.

Lowestoft are 12 points behind Whitehawk with five games in hand, but they have to squeeze in 13 matches between now and the end of the season, a daunting task. Their match at Thurrock was one of three postponed fixtures, which means that Thurrock still have 14 games to play.

Margate, in sixth place, remain a point behind Canvey, who drew 1-1 at Cray. Paul Booth put the Wands ahead in the 25th minute and Bradley Woods-Garness replied for the islanders ten minutes after the interval, his 19th league goal.

That was a valuable point for Cray in their fight to stay ahead of the relegation battle, in which the key result came at Lewes, where the hosts arrested their alarming slump into the danger zone by coming from behind to beat Carshalton 2-1.

It gave the Rooks some breathing space as they edged up to 18th place while Carshalton remained four points adrift at the bottom, having played several more games than the sides above them.

James Ashton put the Robins ahead after 19 minutes in this battle of the birds, but Ben Godfrey equalised for the Rooks on 36 minutes and Karl Beckford won it with a 69th-minute penalty.

A last-minute goal by Dave Knight earned Met Police a 2-2 draw at East Thurrock (action pictured by Mikey Cartwright). Dave Bryant put the hosts ahead just before half-time and Steve Noakes replied immediately after the change of ends.

Rocks thought they had won it when James Lawson netted with eight minutes left, but Knight popped up with the late point-saver against one of his previous clubs.

A superb first-half hat-trick by Ryan Moss set up Hampton’s 5-0 victory at mid-table neighbours Bognor. His quickfire treble came between the 24th and 39th minutes. A own goal by keeper Craig Stoner made it 4-0 and Clayton Murray completed the nap hand in the last minute.