Ebbsfleet United came from behind to claim a point away in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Eastbourne Borough.

After seeing a first half effort controversially disallowed, the Fleet went a goal down to Gavin McCallum’s deflected strike just after the hour before Kenny Clark equalised nine minutes later with a header.

Steve Brown made one change to the side which beat Farnborough, with Chris Sessegnon replacing the suspended Anthony Acheampong in defence.

Eastbourne manager Tommy Widdrington fielded a solid 4-5-1 formation, captained by former Fleet defender Ian Simpemba.

The hosts forced a number of early set pieces which were well-defended by Fleet, who then broke down to the other end through an Anthony Cook run but his cross was cleared from underneath the crossbar.

From the resulting corner, Daryl McMahon angled a curling shot from near the corner flag that was well tipped over the bar by Borough keeper Lewis Carey.

Frankie Raymond then saw a long range shot deflect over the bar for the hosts, while Charlie Sheringham should have done better when Matt Godden’s cross found him clean through on goal but his shot on the turn was kept out by Carey’s legs.

Sheringham did have the ball in the net on 29 minutes as he tapped in Brendan Kiernan’s 18-yard shot from close range following good work from Godden.

While the striker appeared to be in an offside position, the linesman originally awarded the goal before the referee overruled the decision after fierce protests from the home side.

The final chance of the half fell to McCallum who should have done better when he scuffed a volley wide from eight yards.

The second half began at a more sedate pace, with the hosts content to pass the ball around their back four with little urgency and Ebbsfleet unwilling to chase them down.

Anthony Cook’s brilliant dipping 25-yard free-kick was tipped over by Carey and this was the closest either side came to scoring until the 61st minute, when McCallum picked up a loose ball 20-yards from goal and his deflected shot wrong-footed Brandon Hall.

The goal seemed to spur the Fleet into life and they equalised nine minutes later when Clark powered in a header from a Cook corner for his first goal for the club.

Following this, the game became stretched and end-to-end, although neither side were able to carve out many clear cut chances.

Cook cut inside from the wing and saw his shot well saved by Carey, Godden fired over from a good position and at the other end of the pitch Simpemba headed a corner over as the two teams were forced to settle for a point apiece.

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Ebbsfleet: Hall, Sessegnon, Huke, Clark, Howe, Kiernan, McMahon, Rance, Cook, Sheringham, Godden Subs not used: Edwards, Bricknell, Johnson, Palmer, Corcoran. Att: 734.