Sleaford Town denied point by last-gasp Cogenhoe penalty

Level at one apiece heading towards the final whistle, Cogenhoe United slammed home a spot-kick, which Town felt very harshly awarded, to grab all three points.

But despite the disappointment, Sleaford manager Jamie Shaw felt the team could take a lot of encouragement and positives from their performance, and from their defeat of top-10 side Oadby seven days earlier.

“It was very frustrating, particularly as I felt we were worthy of a point,” said Shaw.

“A positive to take away was that over our last two home games we have shown we can compete with sides in the top 10.

“And this is where we need to be aiming.”

The strong wind had a big say on proceedings and the quality of the match, as both sides struggled to fashion a chance early on.

Ben Newman, making his full debut, cleared off the line to deny the visitors the lead.

But Cogenhoe did hit the front when full-back Curtis Avery rose at the back post to drill home a header two minutes before the break.

Yet Town dug in and drew level just after the hour mark when Worthington’s long free-kick into the box was knocked on and bundled in at the back post by Newman.

Moving into the final 10 minutes, Ryan Oliver had a great chance when the ball bounced kindly for him in the box, but his shot cleared the bar, as did a Tom Siddons effort from the edge of the box.

And things turned sour in the fourth minute of stoppage-time when Hargrave was adjudged to have brought down Dore.

Both Hargrave and Hayden were shown yellow cards for their protests, but Tom Iaciofano remained calm to crash the penalty past Adams, with the referee then immediately blowing the final whistle.

Shaw added: “The strong winds made for a game low on quality and the ball spent too much time in the air, but there was little to choose between the teams.”

The result kept Town in 14th ahead of Saturday’s trip to third-bottom Rothwell Corinthians.