A point away from home is always welcome, but how useful it will turn out to be is unclear with results elsewhere going against the Robins.

Both teams were desperate for a win, but the extremely difficult playing conditions with a strong end to end wind and a drying pitch produced a ragged performance with both sides teams dominating play when they had the wind behind them, but neither showing enough ability when conditions were against them.

Margate struggled to get the ball forward in the early exchanges, but too often Carshalton’s passes were over-hit with nobody able to take control of the midfield.

Surprisingly, the first serious chance of the game actually fell to Margate when Rob Watkins mis-kicked a low cross from the right in the six yard box, but Leroy Huggins was too surprised to take advantage.

Carshalton took the lead on 24 minutes when David Ray’s long ball found Barry Stevens free in the area.

Margate keeper Jamie Turner did well to block his shot, but Byron Harrison was on hand to steer the loose ball into the net to open his goal account for Carshalton.

Richard Jolly was next to try his luck as the Robins pressed for a second. Cutting in from the left, his clever shot curled round the home defenders, but Turner got a late touch to deflect the ball away from the far post.

A good move involving Gonsalves, Harrison and Jolly came close to opening up the Margate defence and shortly after Jolly had the ball in the net from Stevens pass only to be ruled marginally offside.

Barry Stevens, presumably injured, failed to appear for the second half and on came Kenny Beaney as substitute.

Stevens penetrating runs were missed for the second period, but Beaney was able to bolster the visitors’ midfield and make things more difficult for Margate who dominated proceedings in the same way as the Robins had earlier.

Aaron Lacy’s wind-assisted long throws posed constant problem for the Carshalton, but Margate lacked the quality needed to turn pressure into goal chances with goalkeeper Nic Hamann proving to be a reliable last line of defence and Robins captain, David Ray, leading by example to break down many of Margate’s attacking moves.

Carshalton were still able to mount the occasional attack and a well-flighted free kick by Beaney picked out Adrian Toppin who glanced his header the wrong side of the upright.

The Margate equaliser came just after the half hour mark when Sam Jones, perhaps too easily, shook off Toppin in midfield before surprising Hamann with a shot that caught the keeper too far forward.

Margate pressed for the winner, but Carshalton were able to withstand the pressure with few further alarms and came close at the other end when Rashid Kamara’s shot was stopped with difficulty by Turner at the foot of his near post.

Neither side could complain at the final result, but both are still in serious danger as they head for the final, hectic month of the season.

Robins team; Nick Hamann, David Ray, Rob Watkins, Justyn Roberts, Lewis Gonsalves, Adrian Toppin, Barry Stevens (Kenny Beaney), Karl Murray, Byron Harrison, Richard Jolly, Rashid Kamara Subs not used: Neil Lampton, Ricardo Joseph, Dexter Bart