EBBSFLEET United manager Liam Daish revealed he was disappointed to only get a 1-1 draw from Saturday’s home match against Wrexham.
In scorching heat, the Fleet fell behind to a well-worked goal by Johnny Hunt before Liam Enver-Marum equalised after an error from Wrexham keeper Joslain Mayebi.
The hosts had a chance to win the game with a penalty in the 88th minute but Mayebi redeemed himself by saving Moses Ashikodi’s spot kick.
This left Daish needing to look for the positives in a draw against a team hotly tipped for promotion.
“I suppose on reflection if you consider the timing of the missed penalty, then it’s two points dropped,” Daish said.
“However, my lads showed a lot of character today, as you feel it double when going behind in conditions like that.
“We dug in, we had chances to go ahead and we haven’t taken them today, but we’ve come out with a point against a side that should be around the promotion spots.
“Moses’ record in pre-season has been very good and he scored in the opening game.
“He’s had a chance today, but it wasn’t to be.”
Daish added: “At the end of the day, we haven’t missed a penalty to get a draw, we’ve missed a penalty to get a win, which although disappointing, still means we’ve come away with something.
“I’ve got complaints about their goal, as we should have bodies over on that side of the pitch.
“The lads need to differentiate between what’s a danger and what isn’t.
“He’s standing in our box with no one around him and he should have been picked up, so that was a bit disappointing.
“But it’s early in the season, we’ve come back into the game and could have won it.”
The penalty was controversially given for a handball by the Dragons’ Martin Riley, but Daish was not convinced by the referee’s decision.
He said: “We had a decision like that go against us at Nuneaton during the first game of the season.
“The linesman is giving it and the referee is on top of it.
“They got away with it in the end, anyway.”
And on Mayebi’s transition from zero-to-hero, the Fleet manager said: “Their goalkeeper is a very good goalkeeper, but he does keep coming for the ball.
“He’s one of those keepers that will keep trying and keep being positive, but that means that every now and again a mistake will happen.
“There was still a bit to do by Liam Enver-Marum and he did it well.
“Both teams deserve credit for playing today, both sides have worked their socks off and played the game in a good spirit in really, really difficult conditions.”
Next up for Ebbsfleet is a Bank Holiday weekend double header away to Hereford on Saturday before hosting Luton on Monday and Daish is hoping conditions ease for the players before then.
He said: “I hope the weather changes, as it is really tough to play football in heat like this.
“Everyone played their part today.”
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