Southport 1 Gravesend & N 1

JIMMY JACKSON snatched a deserved point for Gravesend & Northfleet in their Nationwide Conference clash at Southport on Saturday.

Jackson struck with eight minutes left to save his side from defeat, but their joy was tempered by the sending off of defender Justin Skinner less than two weeks after they received a suspended £12,500 fine by the FA for a poor disciplinary record.

But Fleet boss Andy Ford was unhappy about the dismissal and will study video evidence of the incident before deciding whether to appeal.

The Fleet boss said: “Justin said the ball hit him on the shoulder. The referee gave a corner at first and it was only after his assistant flagged that he sent Justin off.”

Ford felt that his side could have ended up taking more from the game than a single point.

“What with conceding a penalty, going a goal down, playing with 10 men and missing a penalty, it could have ended up being a bad day,” he said.“But we possibly deserved to get more than we got in the end."

Jackson almost also struck an early goal for Fleet, but his effort was thwarted by an excellent one-handed save by Southport keeper Steve Dickinson.

At the other end, Fleet suffered a scare when Peter Thomson beat the offside trap before scooping his shot over the bar with only Paul Wilkerson to beat.

Five minutes before the interval Fleet were reduced to 10 men when Skinner was dismissed after handling Robert Pell’s shot on the goal-line.

And Thomson atoned for his earlier miss by sending Wilkerson the wrong way from the penalty spot.

Gravesend responded positively to being a man short and it seemed more likely that they would equalise than Southport add a second.

But they wasted a golden chance in the 77th minute when they missed a penalty.

Che Stadhart was brought down by Barry Jones, who was sent off for a professional foul. Stadhart picked himself up to take the spot-kick, but Dickenson kept the ball out.

Fleet again stayed positive and got their reward eight minutes from the end when Stadhart played a cross-field pass to Jackson, who scored with a 20-yard shot.

Gravesend: Wilkerson, Burton, Skinner, White, Strouts (74mins), Owen, Jackson, Pennock, Budge, Giles, Kwashi (86mins), Bentley, Stadhart, Substitutes not used: Hatch, Turner, Evans.