Bradley Johnson came through 45 minutes on a goalscoring return to action in an action-packed Under-23s outing.

Johnson, Rovers’ most experienced player, hasn’t featured since the opening friendly at AFC Fylde two months ago due to a hamstring injury picked up in that game.

The 34-year-old was back on the training pitch earlier this month and stepped up his comeback with an outing for Mike Sheron’s side who drew 3-3 with Tottenham Hotspur.

They had to come from 2-0, and 3-2, down and then still required an injury time penalty save from Antonis Stergiakis to give them a third home draw of the campaign.

Stergiakis kept out a 93rd minute Harvey White penalty after Lenni Cirino had been sent off for denying a certain goal when handling the ball on the line.

The Greek ‘keeper came to the rescue with the save to earn Sheron’s side a point, though they remain winless from their opening five Premier League 2 fixtures.

They had trailed 2-0 inside the opening half an hour through goals from Nile John and White.

Rovers battled back though and got one back in the 38th minute as Johnson thumped home a free-kick from 18 yards.

The comeback was complete when Connor McBride opened his account for the season, showing his calmness from the penalty spot once again, to level before half time after Malachi Fagan-Walcott fouled scholar George Pratt in the box.

Spurs got their noses infront again however, Tobi Omole netting in first half injury time from a corner in a real blow to Rovers having just levelled.

Omole then put through his net at the midway point of the half to level things up, substitute Adam Wharton seeing a shot saved, only to see the ball deflect into the net off the unfortunate defender.

That was how things looked to stay until the closing seconds when Stergiakis pulled off a penalty save.

It was one of a number of fine stops from the 22-year-old who made a fine free-kick save to deny White moments before the third Spurs goal, and also to keep out Dilan Kumar Markanday’s curling effort in the closing stages.

He saved his best intervention until last however, guessing right to keep out White’s effort, and there was still time for Rovers to go close to snatching an unlikely winner.

Sam Burns, with four goals already to his name this season, went within the width of the post of adding to that tally in the fifth added minute of stoppage time before the referee brought an end to an exciting encounter.

Rovers: Stergiakis, Ferguson, Phillips, Pratt, Cirino, Brennan, Harlock, Johnson (A Wharton, 46), Durrant (Gilsenan, 71), Burns, McBride

Subs: Eastham, Gamble