Goalkeeper Jamie Stephens scores an injury-time equaliser for Oakham United at Warboys Town
Goalkeeper Jamie Stephens scored a dramatic injury-time equaliser to earn Oakham United a share of the spoils at Warboys Town on Saturday.
Stephens went forward for an injury-time corner in their Peterborough League Premier Division where he headed home a last-gasp leveller in a 2-2 draw.
It helped net a deserved point for Oakham whose performance was hailed as the best of manager Lea Jordan's tenure at the club.
The United boss said: "It was a really good buzz and I said to the players afterwards that I was so proud of them.
"The boys dug deep and carried on with the way that they were playing. They never gave up and scoring that equaliser did feel like a win.
"They do listen and take everything on board. The boys were superb and it was probably the best performance of my time at Oakham."
The Rutland side had made the trip to face an in-form Witches side without several key members of their squad.
Eddie Sakovich, Cardin Pierre-Liverpool, Phil and Julian Andre, Jamar Dobson and Ceri Hayes were all absent for the match against a home side who are unbeaten in their last eight league games and recently won the Hunts Intermediate Cup.
Jordan added: "I did think about going more defensive but it's coming to the end of the season and we've got nothing to lose.
"We could have just bottled it and sat back to defend but, for some unknown reason, the boys just thought that we're not giving up and will continue to play.
"It was really intriguing to see the lads and what they can do so we changed formation. There was a real good vibe and the boys were really up for it.
"Our confidence hasn't been very high for some reason so to do what we did against a side which is flying really does show that we're capable of battling it out with the top teams.
"We need to start doing that with the mid-table sides now because we are very Jekyll and Hyde."
Oakham had begun brightly as both sides traded chances in the opening exchanges.
They took the lead inside the opening 15 minutes as a cross from the impressive Olly Cox was spilled by the home goalkeeper and Louie Medwynter tapped home from close range.
Warboys responded well and had levelled the contest before the break and then took the lead shortly after the restart to the second period.
However, Oakham retained their composure throughout the contest and their chance finally arrived in the 93rd minute.
Jamie Jordan's corner to the back post picked out goalkeeper Stephens who guided his header home to ensure a strong response from Oakham after last week's home defeat to Stilton. They are without a game this weekend.
