Grantham Town 1 Chorley 1

Title-chasing Chorley needed a goal three minutes from time by late substitute Adam Mather to claim a point against a battling Grantham side.

As a result, the Magpies‘ five points lead at the top of the NPL Premier Division was trimmed to three on a day when their three closest challengers all won home games.

The Magpies were kept at bay by some inspired goalkeeping by man-of-the-match Danny Haystead who pulled off at least three stunning saves to keep the hosts in the game.

But finally Mather crowned an impressive 11-minute cameo when, from a great Paul Jarvis cross, he looped a far-post header beyond Haystead three minutes from time to cancel out Gingerbreads’ leading scorer Greg Smith’s opening goal on 62 minutes.

That came immediately following a Chorley attack when the home side broke quickly and the big striker headed a bouncing ball beyond Sam Ashton who was caught in no-man’s land.

Manager Garry Flitcroft was not too disappointed with the hard-earned point – especially with Haystead in such form.

“I had my hands up three times, thinking we’d scored, but it just wouldn’t go in for us,” he said.