For late point

much the same vein after the break, with neither side rushing into any personnel changes until late on in the tie.

But, despite the opportunity to regroup at halftime, County seemed insistent on giving Muggleton the opportunity to cause yet more chaos inside the penalty area – and the second goal came minutes into the second half, with Hinchliffe only able to palm Muggleton’s eleventh throw of the afternoon straight to Hemmings, who half-volleyed powerfully past the Hatters stopper.

County had been offform throughout, yet were possibly unfortunate to find themselves staring down the barrel of a twogoal deficit – and Gannon’s men soon had a way back into the tie through their man in form.

Matty Warburton had helped himself to four goals in four games prior to Saturday’s affair, and the former Curzon Ashton man soon made it five in five with a delightful low freekick curled to perfection past Willis, with twenty minutes left for The Hatters to salvage something.

Controversy soon kicked in when Boston’s players continually went down with injuries which soon healed without further concern, with the home fans revelling in their side’s ‘time management’.

But official Anthony Gough signalled for five stoppage time minutes as Boston’s time-wasting came back to haunt the hosts – and, after lengthy delays within that five minutes of injury time due to Smith and Rollins both going down with what the Pilgrims treated as cramp, there were 97 and a half minutes on the clock when Ball headed home Scott Duxbury’s cross in front of 150 jubilant travelling fans.

The seething home fans booed the officials off the pitch, but County were able to reflect on a point saved at the death – with Gannon’s men now just one point outside the National League North play-off positions.