A Finlay Barnes brace gave the Fleet a point from a potentially tricky trip to Chelmsford, whose winless run against their Kent opponents is now nine games.

Josh Wright made two changes, welcoming back Josh Passley and Camron Gbadebo from suspension, while Olly Box dropped to the bench and Maxx Manktelow had a slight knock.

The Clarets were on the tempo in the opening stages which forced Will Buse into action on a couple of occasions. Daniel Ogunleye thought he had found himself in a prime position to shoot for Fleet’s first real move forward but he was caught offside.

Jake Vokins got on the end of a cross from the right to loose off a good first-time shot but he couldn’t keep that effort low enough whilst Barnes’ shot took a deflection that went out for a corner.

It was a fairly even game with neither side looking likely to score until the 33rd minute produced a Fleet goal. A delivery into the box was headed back by Ogunleye and Barnes tucked away a shot with a neat finish.

The lead didn’t last long, however, as the home side opened up the Fleet defence with their next attack, and a curling long-range attempt from Ash Clarke sped out of Buse’s reach, across goal and in.

It got a bit disjointed in the remainder of the minutes up to half-time but the sides went in level, no great surprise as draw specialists Chelmsford were well used to such a scoreline.

The Clarets began the second-half like they did first, looking to open the Fleet up and Buse had to save with his knees from Clarke to keep the scoreboard at 1-1.

But Chelmsford found themselves edging in front before too long. And it was a well-worked goal on 53 minutes as Manny Egbo sent a cross in from the right to meet with Jack Barham arriving in the six-yard box who gave Buse little chance with his close-range header.

That prompted Josh Wright into changes and Dominic Samuel came off the bench to unsettle the Chelmsford back line. He was straight into the action as he saw an effort from close-range blocked by the opposing defence from Passley’s skill at the byline.

The Fleet kept asking the questions, with Will Tizzard helping push forward from defence and one of his runs began the move for the equaliser. Moving upfield, a pass found Chapman whose shot was met by a Chelmsford boot but came back out to Barnes who snapped it up and fired it home.

The fog began to roll in at either end of the stadium and the lights only just cut through the grey as the Fleet looked to end the 90 minutes the stronger. Samuel had another chance just kept out and Ogunleye saw another cleared, while Chelmsford managed a couple of attacks of their own but 2-2 it stayed.

EUFC: Buse, Passley, Gbadebo, Vokins (Samuel 57), Hessenthaler, Seaman (Walker 83), Tizzard, Kennedy, Chapman, Barnes, Ogunleye.

Subs not used: Box, Hall

CCFC: Marriott, Barbrook, Tompkins, Ralph, Barham, Green, Miley, Egbo, Olopade, Odegah, Clarke.

Subs not used: Eastwood, McFarlane, Browne, Crowther, Dunne

Attendance: 1,382 (149 EUFC)

Photos: ©EUFC, Ed Miller/Tom Harris