Moors were forced to settle for a point on home soil as Brackley Town snatched a last-gasp leveller at the end of a pulsating encounter at The Brewery Field.
Isaac Fletcher looked to have won it for Graeme Lee’s men when he rammed home 20 minutes from the end but Morgan Roberts’ wonderful free-kick saw The Saints take home a share of the spoils.
Lee had made two changes to his starting eleven as Dan Rowe returned from injury and Zanda Siziba was handed his full debut in place of the injured Rob Ramshaw.
Moors went at their visitors from the first whistle and Jonny Maxted had to make a smart save from Glen Taylor’s downward header before Siziba saw a close-range drive deflected wide by a defender.
From the resultant Matty Dolan corner, Rowe arrived with force at the far post and powered a header past Maxted and gave Moors the perfect start with a lead on just five minutes.
They didn’t sit back after the breakthrough either. Dolan whipped a wonderful free-kick round the wall which Maxted did brilliantly to get across to and parry round the post.
Brackley began to settle more as the half wore on and Moors keeper Brad James had to be alert to keep out a low drive from Roberts who did well to engineer a chance on the spin.
There was an even bigger chance for The Saints on 35 minutes when a ball in from the right found its way across to Danny Newton and he prodded a shot past James, only for Taylor to get back to clear off the line.
Lee’s men looked set to take their lead into the break but with just seconds remaining Moors failed to deal with a ball in from the right and Newton clinically volleyed past James to level things up.
It was a psychological blow but one that Moors did not let faze them. They started the second half in encouraging fashion and looked set to regain the lead on 54 minutes when Taylor was shoved in the back by George Carline inside the area. However, the striker uncharacteristically blazed over from the resultant penalty.
The game was swinging one way then the other, but it was Moors who continued to carry the larger threat – and they made good on that on 70 minutes. John Howard – making his debut from the bench – swung in a corner from the left which was only half-cleared, and Fletcher was placed well to drive home his fourth goal of the season.
To their credit, Brackley didn’t back down. Shane Byrne smashed a powerful drive just over the top of James’ bar after another dangerous delivery into the Moors box as they sought another equaliser.
Moors had a couple of chances to sew it up too. Corey McKeown seized on a sloppy pass from Brackley to drive into the box and let fly but Maxted got just enough on the shot to prevent it finding the net before it was cleared.
There was heartbreak in the final moments for Moors though. Roberts lined-up a free-kick from 25 yards, precisely curling it round the wall and into the top corner with less than 10 seconds of the 90 minutes remaining to make it 2-2.
Remarkably, Moors could still have taken three points. Dan Myers was chopped down on the edge of the box and in the protests following the awards of a free-kick, visiting skipper Gareth Dean was shown a red card. Taylor’s subsequent effort on goal was blocked and when the ball was worked back out to the left, Reece Staunton’s inviting delivery was turned against the post by Rowe on the slide.
Full Time: Moors 2 Brackley Town 2
Moors: James, Dyson, Ledger (Bartley 46), Rowe, Staunton, Ross, Dolan (Howard 56), McKeown, Fletcher, Siziba (Myers 79), Taylor.
Subs not used: Johnson, Harris.
Booked: Rowe (21), Ross (53).
Brackley Town: Maxted, Carline, Dean, Lilly (68), Lowe (Cross 79), Byrne, Bates (O’Sullivan 68), Calder, Pollock (Hall 61), Roberts, Newton.
Sub not used: Lyttle.
Booked: Dean (39), Carline (55)
Sent-off: Dean (90)
Referee: Gareth Thomas
Attendance: 1,281
