WELWYN GC rescued a point from their visit to The Waders in the third minute of stoppage time, in a frantic finish at Langford Road.
The home side – reduced to 10 men in the 56th minute, when their skipper Lee Watkins was sent packing by referee Neil Fyfield for a wild, high challenge on WGC’s Brad Dixon-Smith - looked to have clinched an unlikely win just four minutes before.
In the very final minute of regular time and with the Citizens dominating the last half-hour of the game, Biggleswade netted.
A powerful header forward from their central defender Dan Newton caused problems for unbalanced WGC defender Keiran Gauthier. He tried to find keeper Connor Sansom with a back header, but instead, conceded a corner.
From the flag kick, home full-back Ryan Neufville powered through a group of players to head home, what looked a certain winner.
It looked to be a hammer blow to the Citizens, but to their great credit, they refused to panic in the five minutes of stoppage time.
Three minutes into that period, they fashioned a fine equaliser, begun by keeper Sansom and involving full-back Egan Ntege, skipper Jay Lovell and finally Eddie Corbit to set up substitute Ryan Barrett – who had only been on a couple of minutes - to strike a fine leveller past home keeper Ashton Broome-Alexanderr for 1-1, with a minute left.
To this point, ex-AFC Welwyn keeper Broome-Alexander had been the game’s best performer with a series of fine saves, as WGC took control following the sending-off.
The first-half had been a forgettable affair, with neither side creating a decent opening in 45 minutes. WGC’s best being a couple of cross-shots from Nick Ralfe and Tyreece Robertson, both well dealt with by the home keeper.
Biggleswade began the second-half in lively fashion and when Watkins beat Sansom with an early effort, outstanding full-back Ntege got back to clear off the line.
Then Ntege was in action at the other end, set up by Robertson to fire in a low effort saved by Broome-Alexander’s legs.
But the balance of play changed with the sending off and WGC took control, with further efforts from Ralfe and Ethan Rookard well saved and Robertson just firing inches wide of the far post.
A goalless draw looked the inevitable outcome, until the Waders netted on the stroke of full-time, but the Citizens showed their never-say-die spirit by coming back so late in the game, to preserve a precious point.
WGC: Sansom, Ntege, Lovell, Gauthier, Dixon-Smith, Corbit, Nosike (Mendes 81), Robertson (Hayes 81), Cantello (Barrett 90), Ralfe (Mosanya 72), Rookard (Gyamfi 75).
