Cray had three goals disallowed for offside, and were held to a 1-1 draw by basement club Folkestone.

TREVOR MULLIGAN writes: Cray were the more prominent in attack in the opening period, whilst their hosts relied more on breakaways. The Wands forced a succession of corner-kicks and the first goalbound effort from either side came on 13 minutes when John Guest rose unchallenged to head at goal from Ross Lover's corner-kick, but the ball went inches over the crossbar.

Cray had good reason to believe they had taken the lead in the 14th minute after Chris Saunders followed up to slip the ball past Jack Delo after the goalkeeper had parried a shot from Lover. But the first of several debatable offside decsions saw the flag raised for offside against Cray.

An excellent piece of play by Danny Phillips in the 17th minute saw the ball passed through to Cray's leading goalscorer, Laurent Hamici who beat two defenders before seeing his shot rebound agonisingly off the foot of the near post with Delo beaten.

The first danger signs for the Cray defence came when Ally McLeod was in the right place to head a goalward effort off the line, but the Wands conceded the game's opening goal on 26 minutes when Frankie Chappell scrambled the ball past Dave King.

Immediately before half time, a jinking run by Phillips resulted in his shot going inches wide as the Folkestone goal led a charmed life.

The second half was only four minutes old when Folkestone's Roland Edge was given his marching orders. An arm used on Phillips was enough for the referee to brandish a straight red card.

Reduced to ten men, the home side packed their defence, relying even more on the quick breakaway.

Hamici was unfortunate in the 66th minute not to score, as his goal-laden edge-of-the-box shot was first deflected by a defender and then palmed round the post by the grateful Delo.

On 73 minutes, another Cray goal was cancelled in mid-celebration, with the linesman flagging offside as Lover found the net.

Seemingly being denied from getting back into a game that they should already have put to bed, Cray did finally grab the elusive equaliser in the 75th minute. Phillips found space in midfield and passed the ball out left to Leigh Bremner. He in turn wriggled past three defenders before passing the ball inside for Hamici to stroke past Delo from 12 yards out.

Bremner was next to have his celebrations cut short by the linesman's flag for offside again, after heading in Hamici's cross in the 87th minute.

In the final minute, Folkestone could have sneaked an undeserved win as Simon Austin was left on his own in the penalty area with just King to beat but, fortunately for Cray, he blasted the ball wide.

Cray: King, McLeod, Bentley, Day, Guest (Gibbs, 78), Sterling, Lover, Hamici, Bremner, Phillips, Saunders (Clark, 55). Subs not used: Lozano, Cottrell, Dolby.

The point moves Cray back into the play-off zone, in fifth place. They travel to Concord Rangers next Tuesday (7.45pm).