Cray Wanderers and Dulwich Hamlet battled out a thoroughly entertaining draw in the Isthmian League Premier Division at Hayes Lane on Saturday afternoon with Hamlet going in front from the penalty spot before a spectacular Garry Lockey goal levelled things up late on.
With a good crowd of over 400 in attendance the game got off to an open and entertaining start, Ellis Brown shot over from tight angle for The Wands before Shaun Rowley tipped over a long range effort to deny Hamlet.
From the resulting corner Michael Chambers headed over and then Yahaya Bamba saw his shot saved by Ravan Constable at the other end.
The pace slowed from there for a while, but both sides did have chances later on when Jamie Mascoll had a shot saved at the near post by Constable and then Anthony Jeffrey fired wide for the visitors.
The second half started with Ryley Scott having a free kick saved by Rowley in the home goal, before Bamba had a shot saved by Constable which saw the ball run out to Lockyer 30 yards from goal and the Cray forward drilled an effort narrowly over.
Brown had a goal ruled out for offside soon after follwoing good work by Lockyer, but it was Hamlet who got the breakthrough on 52 minutes when Luke Wanadio went down the box under a challenge from Tom Bonner and Referee Blair awarded Dulwich a penalty.
Wanadio dusted himself down and tucked away the spot kick sending Rowley the wrong way to make it 1-0 to Hamlet. Cray looked ragged for a while, but then settled only to suffer another blow when Nyren Clunis was to be stretchered off with a nasty looking ankle injury
Not long after the play got going again Jerome Binnon-Williams hit the underside of the bar from 25 yards out and then Rowley denied Scott from the rebound, before Jack Holland cleared the danger. Heading into the last ten minutes Cray drew level when Lockyer picked the ball up 30 yards from goal and unleashed an unstoppable shot which sailed over Constable high into the net to make it 1-1.
From there both sides had chances to win it, Wanadio fired over for Dulwich, while David Ijaha shot over for The Wands, but in the end both sides had to settle for a point from an enthralling game, which leaves Cray seventeenth and Dulwich three points ahead in fourteenth.
Cray Wanderers return to action on Wednesday night when they host Whitehawk at Hayes Lane.
Cray: Rolwey, Kwatchey (Porter 64), Bonner, Holland, Macoll, Ijaha, Brown, Raymond, Clunis (Evans 72), Bamba (Dembele 88), Lockyer. Subs Not Used: Tobin, Wood.
Dulwich: Constable, Pascal, Chambers, Wanadio, Scott, Jeffrey, Clifton (Shonibare 87), Krasniqi, Tarh, Binnom-Wliiams, Parry. Subs Not Used: Braham-Barret, Hansson, Pingling.
Goals: CWFC – Lockyer 79mins DHFC – Wanadio 52pen.
HT 0-0 FT 1-1
Att: 404
Referee: Harrison Blair