Ebbsfleet battle back to draw against Havant & Waterlooville

Posted Saturday, April 20, 2019 by PA

Ebbsfleet staged a remarkable recovery at the start of the second half to earn a 3-3 draw at relegated Havant & Waterlooville.

Trailing by three goals at half-time, the visitors were level before the hour mark as they closed the gap to the play-off places to three points with two games remaining.

Alfie Rutherford opened the scoring after 22 minutes when he converted the rebound after Ryan Woodford’s header hit a post.

Michael Cheek somehow managed to hit the bar with the goal gaping as the visitors looked to respond, but instead Havant struck twice at the end of the first half, through Rutherford and then Dan McNamara, to leave Ebbsfleet with a mountain to climb.

Danny Kedwell’s close-range finish pulled one back a minute after the break before, just five minutes later, Cheek made up for his earlier miss with a turn and shot into the net from the edge of the area.

And Sam Magri completed the comeback six minutes after that to leave the hosts stunned.

With more than 30 minutes still to play, Ebbsfleet would have fancied their chances of going on to claim victory, but they could not find a fourth goal as they missed the chance to move to within a point of seventh-placed Eastleigh.