Wealdstone remain just one place outside of the play-off spots in the National League South after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Billericay Town last night.

Jake Sheppard gave the Stones a half-time lead, but Danny Waldren cancelled that out with a second-half finish.

The hosts made a quick start to the game and Simon Mensah came close to giving them an early lead when he saw his volley from the edge of the box well saved by Alan Julian.

David Pratt then had a chance of his own in the penalty area soon after, but he dragged his effort wide of the far post.

The visitors soon edged into the game, though, and came close to breaking the deadlock when Ross Lafayette just missed Jake Howells’ fizzing delivery.

Instead, it was Wealdstone who opened the scoring after 20 minutes when Sheppard collected the ball and his deflected effort beat Julian at the near post.

Stones goalkeeper Jonathan North saved his side from conceding a quick equaliser five minutes later, pushing a towering header from Charlie Wassmer onto the crossbar.

The home side then had a series of chances to extend their lead, firstly when Mensah forced another strong save from Julian from the edge of the area, then when Danny Green fired a free-kick just over and finally when Crawley Town loanee Tarryn Allarakhia saw Julian produce another top save.

It only took eight minutes of the second half for Billericay to level as Waldren converted after a combination of North and Connor Stevens had stopped efforts from Moses Emmanuel and Alfie Potter.

Wealdstone created some good opportunities to win the game following the equaliser and could have scored when Green’s cross was left by Stefan Brown but cleared by the visiting defence, and when Pratt’s 81st minute effort was blocked.

The final chance, though, fell to Freddie Grant in stoppage time, but his volley from Jeffrey Monakana’s cross smacked the post, and the score remained 1-1 until the end.

The point they picked up in this game, however, was a good addition to the three they took from Eastbourne Borough at the weekend with a 3-0 win.

First-half goals from Pratt and Allarakhia were added to by Green after the break to seal a convincing win against their mid-table opponents.

Neither side were able to gain the ascendency early on, but as the game progressed, the Stones started to dictate the play and they were rewarded in the 33rd minute when Ramarni Medford-Smith’s cross was powered home by Pratt.

Eastbourne were reduced to ten men soon after when goalkeeper Sam Howes brought down Allarakhia outside the box, and the forward was duly compensated in first half stoppage time when he coolly slotted past substitute keeper James Earl.

Midway through the second period, the hosts were reduced to nine players when Lloyd Dawes went off injured after they had made their allotted changes, and Green took advantage of the numerical imbalance by netting a free-kick past Earl to seal a 3-0 win.

The Stones will have the chance to close the gap on the play-offs when they travel to Gloucester City this coming Saturday (March 2).