MALDON & Tiptree fought back to grab a hard earned point after going down to nine men in their 1-1 draw at home to Barkingside on Saturday.
The Jammers went into the game in buoyant mood off the back off successive victories but had a nightmare start inside quarter-of-an-hour.
Hayes Thomas was found guilty of fouling Andie Edmunds inside the Maldon box and Joe Bricknell sent the resulting spot kick into the back of the net.
Maldon could have equalised soon after when Cliff Akurang managed to head the ball into the path of Tunde Adewunmi but his lofted effort was well cleared by the last defender off the line.
The home side resorted to long balls up towards Akurang and Adewunmi but their opponents were more than happy to deal with them.
Gavin Greenfield was guilty of a mad couple of minutes in the dying minutes of the first half when he was first yellow carded for a foul followed swiftly by a second yellow for supposedly speaking out of turn with the referee.
This left Maldon with ten men going into the break and a mountain to climb if they were to claim anything from the game.
Being a man down didn't seem to down-spirit the Jammers and it was the hosts who had the best chance after the break when Tunde Adewunmni's deflected shot caused problems for Chris Clark in the Barkingside goal but he managed to push the ball over the bar.
The home side were building in confidence and it was Simon Glover's turn to have a try on goal when Akurang laid it back to him but he failed to keep his shot down.
Their pressure on the Barkingside goal paid dividends on 78 minutes when Nathan Koranteng tricked his way into the box and found substitute Alex Anderson in room to score in to the far corner.
The goal kicked Barkingside back into life and started pushing men forward to go for the win with Rigers Kabashi and Calvin Poku going close.
Maldon substitute Joshua Oyinsan made it nerve-wracking for the home side in the final minutes when he was shown a second yellow, reducing the Jammers to nine men, but they were able to hold on to secure the point.
