The goals and points were shared as both teams came from behind in a see-saw game to secure a draw. City were the first to score but even so, were struggling to get their front line going, while Sheppey managed to move through the gears twice to grab an advantage at the break before City then leveled with a second half penalty.

The opening half-hour or so was a sluggish affair with neither side doing enough to stamp their authority on the game. The passing of both sides was indifferent and often went awry and there were few chances created – but with most coming from Sheppey. Remell Davies almost benefited from a loose pass in the City midfield but running through free and with only City keeper Jack Delo to beat, the striker fired well wide. Timmy Babbington saw his low and weak effort easily saved by Delo, before his defenders combined well to deny Sheppey with a near post block from Stefan Cox, Kwasi Amoah hitting the rebound high and not very handsome over the City bar.

City, for their part, had few opportunities. Ryan Catmull volleyed wide from one cross, but three corners City earned were all disappointingly snaffled by the visiting keeper Ben Smart. City were struggling to get some spark upfront, but they did take the lead in the thirtieth minute albeit from a keeper error. In trying to play the ball out from the back Sheppey were laboured and cumbersome and Pat Nzuzi closed down Smart and blocked his clearance. The ball ricocheted loose and Dave Pilcher was the first to react, rolling it home into an unguarded net for 1-0.

That was as good as the half got for City as before half-time arrived they found themselves behind. Jono Richardson glanced a header straight to Delo from a Sheppey free-kick as the visitors looked to respond immediately, but it wasn’t long before they had equalised. A patient build-up involving several players ended with Cox flying into the corner of the City box before he looked up and drilled a shot across the front of Delo and the ball flew into the net off the far post for 1-1.

Just minutes later, Sheppey took the lead when another corner for City failed to produce anything except an easy clearing Sheppey header from which the visitors broke at speed and after a lovely reverse pass from Hicham Akhazzan into acres of space pulled City apart, Davies powered into the City box and slammed the ball past the diving Delo for 1-2.

Worryingly, City very nearly fell for the same trick again as yet another corner failed to find a City shirt and once more the visitors counter-attacked at speed with Akhazzan again leading the charge. This time his superb diagonal ball picked out Cox whose run into the box and at the City goal was only halted by a last ditch blocking clearance from Nzuzi.

Half-time soon arrived with City missing any sort of drive going forward and Sheppey, maybe ruing some of the opportunities that they hadn’t converted, but they were still however, deservedly in the lead.

A plan B was needed for the second half from City, but it wasn’t apparent in the first few minutes though as another corner failed to produce and an attacking free-kick sent into the box was easily punched away by Smart. City were then lucky not to get caught on the break again with Akhazzan flying forward once more and finding Rob Saunders whose shot on the edge of the box was blocked before the loose ball fell to Luke Girt but thankfully, he skied his effort well over.

City then made an attacking substitution replacing Gary Sayer with Tom Barton, but before he could make any impact, Sheppey had twice gone close from two Cox crosses, the first just couldn’t find Babbington sprinting in at the far post, while the second just drifted over and past everyone in the middle for a goal kick.

Finally, as if a switch had been thrown, City began to spark. Barton and Pilcher combined well with a right-sided break that flew across the Sheppey goal inches in front of firstly Rob Lawrence and then Catmull both arriving in the box at speed. Pilcher then struck an excellent shot from the edge of the box a foot over the Sheppey bar and then intercepted a poor pass before bearing down on the Sheppey goal but firing wide. A minute later another chance for City came and went as a free-kick into the Sheppey box pinged about and two or three players had a stab at it before the best sight of goal fell to Laurence Harvey but somehow the visitors survived and scrambled the ball away.

A tame effort from Babbington showed Sheppey might still pose a threat, but the play was now definitely swinging City’s way. A corner was somewhat fortuitously headed wide by a Sheppey defender just when it looked as if it was going to fly into the net, before the next resultant corner was swung in and headed goalbound before being hooked away on the volley by a defender from under the bar and being adjudged not to have gone over the line – but it must have been mighty close!

The next City attack then brought the equaliser when Lawrence, at the forefront of a break which had Sheppey backsliding furiously was upended in the box and a penalty was awarded. Pilcher coolly stepped up and fired into the top corner, giving Smart no chance for 2-2.

There was now a spring in the City step and a double substitution introducing Billy Lewins and Matt Catmull certainly helped improve it further. A couple more corners came and went for City and a Wayne Wilson forty yard free-kick curled a couple of yards wide.

The intensity was increasing rapidly and in a frantic last few minutes, City looked by far the most likely to grab a winner. An off the ball incident saw Jamie Maxted yellow carded for dragging Cox to the floor, but the Sheppey player’s retaliatory kick should really have been a straight red card and not the yellow that the referee subsequently produced.

In the closing minutes, a sparkling attack by Nzuzi won City a corner which was sent in and missed in the air by Smart with Sheppey then surviving another mini scramble and somehow getting it clear. A Pilcher cross was volleyed over the bar by Harvey, while the same player then had a shot blocked after Barton had cleverly slipped him in on goal. The last action of the game saw Sheppey win a pressure relieving corner, but although it was well taken in the air by Delo, there was no time left for City to mount a further attack and the game ended – honors even.

A ponderous start to the game turned into a thrilling last half-hour for City but with the anti-climax of not scoring a winning goal – which surely looked destined to come soon when the final whistle blew.

Final score; Canterbury City 2 Sheppey United 2

City; Jack Delo, Gary Sayer (Tom Barton), Jamie Maxted, Dan Keyte, Laurence Harvey, Josh McCallum, Ryan Catmull (Matt Catmull), Wayne Wilson, Rob Lawrence (Billy Lewins), Dave Pilcher, Pat Nzuzi.
Unused sub; Danny Lawrence