Ebbsfleet United could only draw with struggling Bishop's Stortford on Saturday afternoon.

Danny Kedwell cancelled out Sheldon Sellears' early strike but the visitors carried almost no attacking threat in the second half on a heavy pitch in Hertfordshire.

With games running out in the race for the Vanarama Conference South play-offs, Fleet will consider this two more points dropped.

There were two changes to the Ebbsfleet team which started against Staines in midweek. Illness ruled out Matt Fish, while Sean Shields dropped to the bench, as Ben Jefford and Tyrone Marsh came in.

Anthony Acheampong was again missing because of concussion so Fleet manager Jamie Day went with a back-four, moving Dean Pooley to right-back in Fish's absence. Marsh started the game in the hole behind strikers Kedwell and Adam Cunnington.

Stortford put their visitors under early pressure, winning a series of corners, and they almost went ahead when Bobby-Joe Taylor's low cross from the left narrowly eluded James Walker in the six-yard box.

The opening goal arrived in the 11th minute.

With Pooley stranded upfield, Frankie Merrifield raided down the Stortford left, cut inside Kelvin Langmead and fired a shot towards the far corner. Preston Edwards dived to his left to keep it out but Sellears was on hand to drive home the rebound.

The Blues were swarming all over Ebbsfleet, whose defensive uncertainties from the Staines game seemed to still be lingering. Taylor hooked another low cross in the six-yard box from the byline and Edwards did well to get one hand to the ball before grabbing it with both.

Cunnington was a picture of frustration when his optimistic strike from 30 yards sailed high over the crossbar. Cunnington and Kedwell were feeding off scraps.

Matt Johnson, back at his old club, drilled a shot wide before Sellears did likewise at the other end, turning away from two Fleet defenders and placing the ball beyond Edwards' reach - but also beyond the far post.

However, with half an hour played, Ebbsfleet got their equaliser.

Theo Lewis was fouled in central mdifield and it was he who took the free-kick which Kedwell headed expertly inside the near post. Lewis' delivery to the left-hand side of the box caught Stortford cold but Kedwell still had plenty to do with his header.

The remainder of the first half was a poor spectacle, although it took a fantastic block from Pooley to stop Walker rounding off a Stortford counter-attack with a second goal.

It took until the hour for either side to fashion a chance following the restart. Sellears' side-footed effort from the edge of the box took a big deflection and wrong-footed Edwards but the Fleet defence managed to scramble the ball behind for a corner.

The left-wing set-piece fizzed right across the face and goal and bounced behind, to the relief of the visitors.

Ebbsfleet's sparkle had gone and Day looked to address that by sending Shields on for the last 20 minutes.

However, the home side continued to carry the greater threat. Frankie Merrifield burst to the left-hand byline and crossed for Sellears, who shot wide when he should at least have hit the target.

At the other end, Kedwell flicked on a cross from the right and Shields looked set for a tap-in but a crucial touch from a Stortford defender nicked the ball off his toe.

But if either side was going to grab a late winner, it would have been Stortford, with the Fleet forced into some pretty desperate defending in the last few minutes.

Bishop's Stortford: Larkins, Miller, Lee, Tabiri, Bailey-Dennis, Allen, Taylor, Church, Walker (Simmonds 63mins), Merrifield, Sellears. Subs not used: Hayles, Salapatas, McCall, Milbourne.

Ebbsfleet: Edwards, Pooley, Langmead, Bonner, Jefford, Johnson, S Lewis, T Lewis, Marsh (Shields 70mins), Kedwell, Cunnington. Subs not used: Gower, Kiernan, Clark, Turner.

Attendance: 605.