Fleetwood Town battled until the end and came away with a point after their 2-2 draw with Bristol Rovers on Saturday afternoon at the Memorial Stadium.
The lead was secured by Fleetwood early on via Shaun Rooney and looked favourites to add another before the break.
Two second-half goals from Josh Coburn and Aaron Collins respectively looked to have secured all three points for the hosts, but Rooney rose up again and nodded home seconds from time.
Town started the game as the better side with the first chance coming just three minutes in as Brendan Wiredu controlled the ball around the edge of the Gas’ area before picking out Carlos Mendes Gomes, whose effort went high and wide of the target.
A player who had a great start to the clash was Rooney, who saw an early effort be blocked by Lewis Gibson, but then managed to open the scoring 13 minutes in as he calmly took the ball past a man in the box and slotted it into the bottom left corner of James Belshaw’s goal.
The pressure carried on from the front as Scott Brown’s men looked to double their lead with Danny Andrew aiming a free-kick on target from 25-yards, troubling the goalkeeper, with Wiredu having another effort on goal four minutes later which went just wide of the far post.
Soon after, Jay Lynch was called into action for the first time in the game as former-Cod Jordan Rossiter was played in 18-yards out and tried to slot the ball into the corner, past the diving goalkeeper, but our number 13 did enough to push the ball wide before clearing.
The hosts had another chance with not long to go until the break as a free-kick was played in from the right, where another former-Cod Lewis Gibson rose highest to nod the ball towards goal, but the effort flew over the bar and out for a goal kick.
There was time for one final chance before the break and it fell to the Cods as good play from Rooney, Wiredu, and Mendes Gomes leads to the ball being played to the feet of Andrew, who tricks his way past two but fires high and wide.
It was a quick start to the second half as the hosts almost levelled things up as Collins stormed through on goal but fired wide of the target after Lynch made himself big. Not long after, Warrington whipped a free-kick in towards Baker who, unfortunately, couldn’t quite get enough on his header to trouble the goalkeeper.
Rovers squared everything up just around the hour mark as Coburn worked well with Collins to break through the Town backline, with the former finding the back of the net. They had a chance to take the lead a couple of minutes later through a Collins strike, but his chipped effort landed on the roof of the net.
With 10 minutes to go, the hosts took the lead, and it was Collins who scored the goal. Former-Cod Sam Finley played a deep cross into the box, which Rovers’ forward managed to get his head on as he guided the ball into the far corner, past a diving Lynch.
It was pandemonium at the end as Town brought it back to level terms just before the end as Andrew played in dangerous cross into a packed area, where Rooney kept his cool and nodded into the side-netting.
Gas XI: Belshaw (GK), Gordon, Finley (C), Sinclair (Hoole 86'), Collins (Marquis 89'), Rossiter, Gibson, Evans, Gibbons (Connolly 46’), Thomas, Coburn (Saunders 90+4').
Unused subs: Jaakola (GK), Clarke, McCormick.
Town XI: Lynch (GK), Andrew, Wiredu (Batty 72'), Mendes Gomes (Lane 87'), Vela (C), Morton (Omochere 72'), Warrington (J.Garner 87'), Nsiala, Rooney, Earl, Baker (Holgate 65’).
Unused subs: Stolarczyk (GK), G.Garner.
Attendance: 8,829 (210 away)