Whites were unfortunate not to gain a morale-boosting win against Conference side Gravesend in this hastily arranged friendly. The game gave Steve Browne another chance to have a look at the squad that he has spent the past weeks assembling.

The game started well for the Whites, as the first goal came after just eleven minutes. A deep cross could not find Craig Wilkins at the far post, but the referee adjudged that Lee Gledhill had pushed him, so Cloke stepped up to the penalty spot to blast the ball past ex-White Charlie Mitten.

Mitten was the butt of many jokes throughout the night, as Whites fans seized upon every mistake that he made. And after twenty minutes, Victor Renner shot from 20-yards, and Mitten spilled it, though he managed to catch it at the second attempt on the goalline.

The second goal came minutes after Mitten’s fumble, though it had a lot of fortune attached to it. Ricky Spiller came down the right wing, and his cross sailed on over the keeper, and in off the back post.

Although Mat Lovell forced a great save out of Readings, it was the Whites who were closest to adding to their score. Bubb played a corner short to Warren Ryan, who hammered his shot against the crossbar. This was the final noteworthy action of a very encouraging first half performance by the Whites.

The second half started badly for the Whites though. Two minutes in, Kevin Readings came charging out to collect a cross, but unfortunately took the players legs away to give away a penalty. Mat Lovell stepped up to reduce the arrears.

Mitten was still having a poor game, and as his quick throw out hit Lovell on the back, the ball fell to Byron Bubb, who saw his excellent drive tipped round the post.

A flurry of substitutions for both sides led to a lack of flow to the game, and subsequently few chances were created. It took until the 82^nd minute before one arrived, as the visitors drew the scores level.

It was a magnificent piece of individual play to break the Whites’ defence down, as James Pinnock took the ball forward and stuck home past substitute keeper Pat Mullin.

Whites were the closest to taking a morale boosting victory, as Chris Wright outmuscled James Gibson, but he shot wide, meaning the scores remained level. The night was tinged with disappointment as a two-goal lead was thrown away, but this was still a really strong performance against a good Conference side.