After giving their hosts plenty of scares during the match, it was left to left-back Sam Cotton to ghost in at the death and treat his side to a richly-deserved point in their Halloween encounter at Kettering Town.

Trailing by a single goal with seconds remaining, Jamie Hill's free-kick caused chaos in the penalty box with Cotton bundling over the line from the resulting melee as the hosts appealed in vain for a foul on their keeper.

The equaliser was no more than City deserved from their 170-mile round trip that was played in atrocious autumnal wind and rain as they battled from start to finish in a feisty encounter.

The visitors started very brightly but just lacked the killer ball although they created all the major chances of the opening quarter. The first fell to George Hymas, who brought a good save from the home stopper at his near post after being put through by Hill.

The midfielder then saw the keeper pull off a good diving catch to his long-range effort before Jesse Asomugha capitalised on a poor clearance to feed Will Cottell whose shot was again saved.

Both teams battled to gain supremacy in Q2 with the best chances coming in the final few minutes - City keeper Josh Reed-Jones cleanly clutching a free-kick at his top left corner when he was tested for the first time before at the other end, an excellent Cottell cross drifted wide at the back post after eluding his team-mates.

This competitive contest ebbed and flowed throughout Q3 but the visiting back four of Matt Athey, Cotton, Oli Sheahan and Will Sankey continued to hold firm.

City went into the final period looking the most likely to earn all three points but, after Reed-Jones did well to push out a fierce drive for a corner, they were hit on the counter. Kettering pinched the ball on the halfway line and broke clear to shoot home.

To their credit, heads didn't drop and a clever Asomugha shot was tipped round the post for a corner. Jack Pocknell then hooked on a Sheahan headed clearance to Jamie Neath, who wriggled some space to the right of the area and shot past the keeper only for the ball to roll agonisingly past the post.

However the visitors weren't to be denied and, as the final whistle loomed, Cotton prodded in the late leveller earned a share of the spoils - the least that City deserved for their Halloween hard work.