Gravesend 2 Weston-super-Mare 2

EIGHT days after rightly winning acclaim for a deserved point at Conference leaders Chester, Gravesend finished the week deep in the doldrums.

Humiliated in Tuesday’s home defeat by Dover in the Kent Senior Cup, the Fleet suffered the indignity of squandering a 2-0 lead against Dr Martens League, Premier Division strugglers Weston-super-Mare in Saturday's FA Trophy, third round tie.

Supporters who turned up expecting the side to make amends for Tuesday’s debacle, left sorely disappointed as the Fleet seldom looked convincing, even at 2-0, and Weston deservedly earned a replay with a last minute equaliser.

Manager Andy Ford assured fans that the search for new signings was unrelenting. Saturday’s signs strongly suggest that new faces are needed sooner rather than later if the club are to retain cherished Conference status.

“We showed at Chester last week that 2-0 is a dangerous scoreline when we came back and took a point,” said Ford. “It was no different today.

“You need that third goal and we didn’t get it today. Our biggest failing today was that we didn’t keep the ball. Two poor pieces of defending let them back in the game. As I’ve said so many times this season, we’re not keeping enough clean sheets.

“The thing is that we’re still in the Trophy and we’ll have Chris Moore back from suspension for Tuesday's replay.”

Weston, who shocked Conference club Farnbrough in the FA Cup this season before losing to Northampton, showed no sign of springing a surprise early on.

Rob Haworth opened the scoring in the 14th minute when he pounced on a mistake by Weston skipper Billy Clark. Ben Abbey made it 2-0 in the 38th with an excellent finish after skipper Steve McKimm’s pass had played him through.

The visitors appeared more resolute in the second half and were rewarded in the 54th minute when David Gilroy rifled the ball home from close range after goalkeeper Paul Wilkerson had done well to parry Luke Corbett’s shot from close range.

The loss of Abbey’s pace from the attack in the 56th minute, when he was carried off on a stretcher with damaged ankle ligaments, severely weakened the Fleet up front.

But they looked set to hold on until the final minute when Weston substitute Paul Hunt chipped Wilkerson from the edge of the area with his first touch.

Gravesend: Wilkerson; Lee, Shearer, Duku, McClements; McKimm, Drury, Owen, Walshe; Abbey, Haworth. Substitutions: Evans for Abbey 63 mins. Not used: O'Reilly, Gradley, Perkins, Pinnock.

Attendance: 670.