Chipstead earned a fine point in a battling 2-2 draw at Tooting & Mitcham in their latest game in the Cherry Red Records Combined Counties League Premier Division South on Saturday afternoon, but were seconds away from grabbing all three

For once, they were up against it at the start, & it took a timely tackle from skipper Theo Crawford to thwart the first Tooting attack, but it was the home side, which took the lead 1-0 on 6 minutes, as their no. 7 attacked inside right & shot past Chips’ keeper Jacob Bennett

It was Bennett who prevented Tooting scoring a second with a brave save soon after, but his side began to find their way in the game - on a soft pitch, there was plenty of slips & falls, and Tijani Eshilokun was unlucky to catch a boot in the face, as he went down in a tackle, but he was patched up to continue

Carl Oblitey had a shot blocked, & Kamran Campbell’s looping cross was cut out for a corner, while Bennett & Stanislaw Cyndrowski had to deal with another Tooting attack

As halftime approached, Chipstead equalised - Oblitey broke forward, beat a defender & lifted the ball over the onrushing keeper and into the net to make it 1-1, which remained the score at the break, even after 9 minutes added time

Chips kept pushing after the interval - Jordan Wilson led an attack, Campbell took the ball on, but a defender got back to intervene - Campbell then managed another run to the byline, found no one up in support, so shot from a tight angle himself, but hit the keeper

Chipstead introduced their subs, & nearly took the lead, as Campbell escaped again wide on the right, before crossing to Oblitey, whose shot was blocked

On 89 minutes, Chips thought they had won the match, as sub Michael Dixon played the ball wide to Campbell, he advanced again, before laying the ball back to Oblitey, who lashed it into the net

The referee indicated 7 minutes added time, but Chipstead were resisting late Tooting pressure, with Bennett getting down to push one effort wide - however, the referee awarded Tooting a late penalty, as their right back went down under a challenge in the box, necessitating a prolonged spell of urgent medical attention - their no. 15 eventually took the spot-kick in the 13th minute of added time, which went just beyond Bennett’s dive, & the points were shared

This sees Chipstead up to 14th in the league table ahead of next Saturday’s home league game with Epsom & Ewell