Lucky 13? Wick keep unbeaten run going at East Preston

The Dragons appeared to be cruising to victory when they took a 13th minute lead with Dave Crouch controlling a pass on his chest before swivelling and firing home an overhead kick for his 18th goal of the season.

But East Preston, struggling at the foot of the table, refused to capitulate against their neighbours and kept plugging away to remain in the match.

The turning point was early in the second half when leading Wick scorer Josh Irish won a 50/50 battle with the home goalkeeper only to hit the bottom of the near post as he shot from a tight angle.

East Preston capitalised on a Dragons mistake to equalise and could have snatched victory late on as they finished the stronger side but were wasteful with their finishing.

Wick are fifth and – weather permitting – will host Banstead Athletic on Saturday.

Assistant Wick manager Warren Pye admitted: “If we’re being honest, we were lucky to get a point. We rode our luck at the end and were fortunate some of their finishing was poor. It was a great effort from Crouchy to give us the lead and in terms of the play before that we were very good but we didn't push on from there unfortunately.

“We couldn't keep going, we couldn't keep pressing on, and we let them back into the game and got our just dues when they equalised. After that they were unlucky not to get a second and we could have gone home with no points and our unbeaten run over.”