Brentwood Town were denied their first win since November by a late equaliser from Burgess Hill Town’s Joe Keehan in their 1-1 draw at the Brentwood Arena.
Robbie Rees gave ‘The Blues’ the lead early in the second half, with his diving header in Brentwood’s first home game of 2016.
Burgess Hill got a last minute leveller from a set piece, to snatch a point and stun the home side and deny them what would have been a vital win in their survival bid.
Mike Flanagan made two changes to his side that grabbed an away draw against local rivals Billericay, as Captain Martyn Stokes returned from injury in place of Connor Hogan and Robbie Rees was chosen ahead of Petrit Elbi.
Burgess Hill had the first shot of the match 11 minutes in, as Lee Harding’s strike from just outside the box was saved by Ollie Bowles and collected at the second attempt.
In the second half, the visitors had a great chance to lead as Captain Darren Budd had a shot from close range, which was stopped by Bowles.
Brentwood lost the ball from the broken down corner, which worked its way to Sam Gargan on the edge of the box, whose shot was kept out by a great save from Bowles at full stretch.
The hosts broke the deadlock, just before the hour mark after good work from Brentwood, Tom Richardson managed to find a yard and whipped in a cross for Rees to head home.
Burgess Hill went straight in search of the leveller as Harding’s shot was parried for a corner by Bowles. From the resulting corner, Dan Pearce whipped in a deep cross for Harding to meet again at the far post, which Bowles had to help onto the bar and Ryan O’Rawe finally cleared the danger.
The away side nearly equalised, as the ball broke to Budd and his vicious strike had to be turned over the bar again by Bowles to deny the visitors.
Brentwood hit Burgess Hill on the counter-attack, with great work from substitute Petrit Elbi and Richardson whose shot was well held by Josh James.
The visitors got a late equaliser in injury time, as Pearce’s corner was put in to the back post for first half substitute Joe Keehan to nod in – to deny the host all three points.
Brentwood Town Lineup: 1 Ollie Bowles, 2 Martyn Stokes, 3 Louis Baucutt, 4 Connor Witherspoon, 5 Ryan O’Rawe, Lewis Knight, 7 Shad Ngandu, 8 Mitch Hahn (79), 9 Tom Richardson (87), 10 Robbie Rees (80), 11 Andy Freeman
Substitutes: 12 Connor Hogan (79), 14 Petrit Elbi (80), 15 Bradley Nobbs, 16 Chris Manangu (87), 17 Sherwin Stanley
Burgess Hill Town Lineup: 1 Josh James, 2 Toby Pointing, 3 Sam Fisk, 4 Darren Budd ©, 5 Andy Pearson (24), 6 Will Miles, 7 Dan Pearce, 8 Pat Harding (77), 9 Sam Gargan, 10 Chris Smith (85), 11 Lee Harding
Substitutes: 12 Joe Keehan (24), 14 Scott Kirkwood, 15 Jack Rowe-Hurst (77), 16 Cam Wiltshire (85)
Attendance: 154
Interview with Brentwood Town Manager Mike Flanagan:
