Margate 1 Sutton United 1

The hosts, battling to pull clear of the relegation zone, took the lead when Leroy Huggins scored his third goal in three games since arriving from VCD.

His goal, six minutes before half-time, came from Maragte’s first serious visit to the Sutton area.

But, once Perkins had equalised two minutes after the restart, a draw always looked the likeliest result.

Playing down the slope in the first half United had a lot of the ball and should have made the possession count.

Perkins drove an early close range shot wide after Bradley Woods-Garness had crossed from the right after a free kick had been cleared.

The night's best bit of football from either side saw Alan Pouton and Billy Hawes combine on the right after Steve McKimm had switched the direction of an attack with a fine crossfield pass.

Hawes put in a good cross from the right, but Sonny Cobbs could only direct his downward header straight at Jamie Turner when a yard either side of him would surely have given the keeper no chance.

Cobbs was also wide with a speculative long-range effort but, six minutes before the break, Margate took the lead againt the run of play.

Aaron Lacy's long throw from the left bounced around on the edge of the six-yard box before Huggins controlled it on his chest and shot on the turn past Scriven from eight yards.

United struck back almost immediately, though, as a cleared free kick fell to Perkins on the edge of the area and this time his aim was true, a sweetly-struck half-volley finding the corner of the net.

The shot curved away from keeper Turner, who had also been in goal for Maidstone when Perkins previously found the net for United in November.

There was time before the interval for Pouton to pick up a booking for foul and Woods-Garness, who was originally named as a substitute but brought in to the line-up after Anthony Joseph, Charlie Taylor and Danny Phillips were delayed en route to the ground, to limp off having twisted his knee.

Early in the second half, Margate also had to make an injury-enforced substitution, bringing on leading scorer Lloyd Blackman, whose first contribution was to be booked for a heavy challenge on Matt Hann.

But, for long periods after the interval, there was little to warm the crowd on an increasingly chilly evening with both sides struggling with their passing on a very firm surface.

Only in the last ten minutes was there a hint that the scoreline might change.

Firstly, Scriven misjudged a long throw from Lacy, and after the ball had been cleared from the six-yard box, United's keeper made a fine save low to his right to keep out a shot from Dan Stubbs.

Then, three minutes later, Gargan beat Turner with a fine dipping volley from 20 yards but was unlucky to see the ball deflect wide off the outside of the post.

Sutton: K Scriven, B Hawes, J Hawes, S McKimm, S Perkins, K El-Salahi, M Hann(sub A Joseph 67), A Pouton (sub A Bray 67), S Gargan, B Woods-Garness (sub C Taylor 44), S Cobbs. Subs n/u D Phillips, W Shaw. Goal: Perkins(41).

Booked: Pouton (42-foul), McKimm(85-foul).

Margate: J Turner, A Lacy, D Stubbs, J Keister, G Cooper, D Young, N Barnes (sub L Blackman 47), J Saunders, L Huggins, J Pinnock, S Jones. Subs n/u S Groombridge, S Cliff, D Grant, A Krunic. Goal: Huggins(39).

Booked: Blackman(54-foul) Referee: N Wilde (Maidstone).

Attendance: 302