Hartley Wintney got themselves out of jail by recovering from a two-goal half-time deficit to share the spoils at the Metropolitan Police, writes David Graham.

It only took the Met five minutes of detective work to figure out how to breach the Hartley defence and open  the scoring.  Alfie Walters had space on the right and his cross found Rudy Appiah-Allen unmarked in front of the Row goal and he scored from 12 yards out. (1-0)

The Met continued to ask the questions and Ryan Davey set up Appiah-Allen who saw his effort from the edge of the area saved by Adam Melville in the Hartley goal.

On 23 minutes Mark Amaning-Ampong a former Row defender now plodding the beat in the Met team had an effort saved by Melville.

On the half-hour mark the Row had their first effort. A free kick on the right from George Wallace brought out a good save from Liam Beach in the Met goal. Six minutes later Appiah-Allen managed to escape the custody of the Row defenders and crossed to Mason Galloway who screwed his shot wide from close range.

However, a minute later the home side increased the lead. A Hartley defender had his pocket picked as he lost possession to Benjamin Mendoza who ran on and scored. (2-0).

Hartley almost pulled a goal back just before halftime when Conor Lynch and Tayo Oyebola combined well and the latter saw his effort bring out a good save from Beach. Just before the interval George Winser for Hartley had to leave the field with a nasty looking shoulder/arm injuring.

The Row looked more like the better team in the second half.

On 59 minutes Liam Gavin found Mason Obeng with an accurate forward pass. The young midfielder showed excellent skill as he beat his marking defender and crossed to Conor Lynch at the back post who swept the ball home. (2-1)

The Row remained on the case and on 64 minutes a cross from the left by Andry Demira just eluded some inrushing Row players.  However the equaliser arrived just four minutes later when Obeng showed great skill and his precise cross was headed home by Tayo Oyebola at the back post. (2-2)

Hartley had a chance on 80 minutes when Lynch got free down the middle but Beach closed the case with a good stop.

Three minutes from the end the Met almost achieved robbery by snatching a winner. A free kick on the right from Mendoza was forced goalwards through a crowd of players and Wallace was forced to clear off the line.

For Hartley they looked a side lacking in confidence in the first half. However in the second period when Mason Obeng was moved from wing to midfield they looked as though they could unlock any door.  Liam Gavin and substitute Harrison Bayley both had solid games patrolling in defence.