Epsom & Ewell boss Glyn Mandeville hopes their fight-back at runaway leaders Hartley Wintney sends out a message to their league rivals.

The Salts were 3-1 down at Hartley’s previously impregnable home, only to take a point from a 3-3 draw.

They are the first side to take anything off Hartley in their own back yard, moreover, prior to Tuesday night’s deadlock, the leaders had conceded only one goal in six games at home.

But the message is not “we’re coming to get you”, but more “if we can do it, so can you”.

And it a message that will need to be heeded as Hartley occupy the only promotion spot, and are five points clear with a game in hand.

Mandeville said: “For us to come back showed great character and I think we played the better football.

“We could have nicked it at the end with a Matt Ferdinando free-kick. I was missing Dan Dean, who is our most experienced centre half, and we scored an own goal so it does stick in the throat a bit, but overall I am happy.”

Coming home has more than one advantage, says Epsom & Ewell boss

He added: “But what we have done is shown others in the league that you can nick points off them.

“They are very beatable, but up until now, when Hartley have got a 2-0 lead over teams, they have wilted.

“We didn’t do that, we stuck to our guns, carried on going, showed great discipline and commitment and got a result that could have been even better.”

Ferdinando bagged a brace in the mid-week draw, while Tom Neale also got on the scoresheet.

It means, following Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Knaphill – featuring a Daryl Cooper-Smith goal – the Salts sit fourth in the Combined Counties Premier Division table.

This weekend’s opponents are Hanworth Villa, who have former Salts stiker Dale Marvell in their ranks, and they are seven points behind the Salts in sixth.

“Hopefully Dale won’t come back and bite us on the bum,” Mandeville said.

“I’ve told the lads that we’ve got a great result against Hartley, but we cannot allowed the likes of Knaphill and the teams beneath us to take points off us.

“That makes this weekend really important. Villa are a tough side, they work hard and try to play football the right way – they are not a lump it kind of side.”

Mandeville is without Alex McKay (knee), Kyle Hough (knee) and Sam Currie (groin), as well as long-term absentee Dan Dean (groin).

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