CONNOR Stanley scored a dramatic injury-time equaliser as 10-man Worcester City rescued a point to draw 2-2 away at league leaders Spalding United.
Stanley drew Worcester level six minutes into injury time at the Sir Halley Stewart Field after Dan Sweeney had earlier equalised from the penalty spot.
Spalding twice led through goals from Yusifu Ceesay and Jack Roberts only for Stanley to deny the league leaders the points at the death despite Charlie Wise seeing red late on for the visitors.
The result means Worcester sit ninth in the Southern League Premier Central table, five points outside of the play-off places.
Spalding went close early on as a deflected shot looped onto the crossbar before Josh Bailey headed the ball to safety.
And City goalkeeper Harley Price then denied Ceesay from point-blank range to keep the game scoreless.
Worcester thought they had taken the lead on 25 minutes when Paul Downing headed home only for the referee to award a free-kick to Spalding for a foul off the ball in the penalty area.
However, Spalding broke the deadlock on 36 minutes when Jack Roberts floated a cross into the box from the right and Ceesay nodded home at the back post after Price misread the flight of the ball.
City went close at the other end as Dan Wilks tipped Bailey’s powerful effort over the crossbar after the ball broke kindly to the defender in the box.
The visitors won a penalty after the break on 72 minutes when Roberts tripped substitute Charlie Lutz in the box with the latter making his City debut.
And Sweeney confidently found the bottom left corner from the penalty spot to draw the visitors level.
However, Spalding reclaimed the lead seven minutes from time when Roberts saw his deflected shot trickle into the bottom right corner at the second attempt.
And Worcester then had Wise sent off on 85 minutes after he received a second yellow card for a trip on a Spalding player as he attempted to burst through.
However, the visitors stunned Spalding deep into injury time as Stanley cut in from the left and fired a sublime effort into the top-right corner from 20-yards out to snatch a point.
Worcester are next in action against Quorn on Saturday, December 20 with kick-off at 3pm at Farley Way.
