Stevenage 2, Lincoln City 2

Rob Street scored a late equaliser to earn the Imps a deserved point at Stevenage, extending the club's unbeaten run to 26 games.

But the draw means Lincoln City’s claim on the League One title was put on hold – the team needs just one more point to be crowned champions after securing promotion two weeks ago.

Ivan Varfolomeev returned to the starting XI after dropping out in the warm-up ahead of last Saturday's win against Orient. Tom Bayliss, who came into the team in place of the Ukrainian, started the afternoon on the bench.

The home side took the lead with just three minutes on the clock. A free-kick from Harvey White was sent into the area, where Carl Piergianni headed it back into the path of Louis Thompson who hit his left-footed shot first-time and watched as it nestled into the bottom left corner.

City had to work hard to create chances against the team fighting for a play-off place and with the best defensive record outside the top two in League One. 

It was clear to see why Alex Revell's side conceded few goals, as they got back in numbers and left very few gaps for the Imps to exploit.

Lincoln equalised on 17 minutes as Ryley Towler's diagonal pass found the run of Tendayi Darikwa who drilled home right-footed past Filip Marschall.

The home side retook the lead through Dan Kemp leaving the Imps dominating possession but unable to find a way through the congestion in the box.

Skubala made a treble change just after the hour mark, sending on Street, Alfie Lloyd and Tom Bayliss in place of Oné, House and Varfolomeev, with Deji Elerewe and Dom Jefferies (for Darikwa and Towler respectively) following in the closing stages. 

The fresh legs saw the Imps make chances, but the equaliser eluded the visitors until one minute into the six of extra time when Street blasted home from inside the area to secure a point to the delight of the 1,358 travelling fans.

The head coach praised his players’ battling spirit: “It was a tough game, but it is a reminder it’s really hard to win matches at this level. It’s really hard to come here and win.

“I thought they started the game better and they have huge things to play for in trying to get into play-offs. So every ball mattered.”