Margate put in a dogged display at the Green Elephants Stadium as they extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to eleven games thanks to a Kane Haysman equaliser in the 78th minute in a 1-1 draw against Burgess Hill Town.

The Blues welcomed back Lenny Pidgeley in goal after he recovered from an illness that meant he missed the last three games whilst Nathan Fox started at right back after signing for the Blues on Friday evening.

In a dour first half neither side created much in the way of opportunities with Haysman’s header from a Liam Friend headed cross fall onto the top of the net the closest either side came to opening the scoring.

The second half wasn’t to start to different from the first with the ball spending much of the time in the middle of the park with no real chances being created by either side.

The game kicked into life in the 68th minute as a Haysman back pass was under hit to Pidgeley who was beaten to the ball by the Burgess Hill striker who poked the ball under Pidgeley to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

Burgess Hill should have extended their lead minutes later as a ball across the six yard box evaded everyone as the Blues lived dangerously whilst looking to get level.

The equaliser did come 12 minutes from the end as some fine work down the right saw the ball swung in and after some hesitation from the hosts, Haysman was on hand to slam the ball home for his 4th Margate goal since joining from Kingstonian at the end of October.

The ever reliable Pidgeley was forced into a couple of late saves otherwise both teams seemed happy to take a point each in freezing conditions in Sussex.

MARGATE: Pidgeley, Fox, Mills, Rogers, Friend, Swift, Haysman, Prescott, Chiedozie (Enver-Marum 89’), Collin, May (Martin 77’)

Subs Not Used: Evans, Lee, Brown

Attendance: 280