PERSHORE Town grabbed a 90th-minute equaliser as they stunned Worcester Raiders late on to secure a 3-3 draw in what was a chaotic end to the Hellenic League Premier clash.
Jordan Stoddart's own-goal, moments after Isaac Cooper had been sent off for a push on Alfie Bloomer off the ball, capped off a frustrating night for the hosts.
Raiders had led through Cooper's fifth-minute opener but Jay Sauntson's poor back pass was snaffled up and punished by Pershore striker Aidan Clark to square things up.
Harry Stratford scored a brilliant volley to make it 2-1 before the break, but another error led to former Worcester City forward Sean Brain's goal as Pershore equalised for a second time.
But the visitors' joy was short-lived as a simple long ball over the top beat the Plums' defence and Zaq Hussain lashed home to restore the lead.
Heading towards stoppage time, the game was flipped on it's head as an off-the-ball scuffle ended with Cooper pushing Bloomer to the floor.
The referee sent him off and when the game restarted with a Pershore free-kick down the left, the ball was deflected past Keiron Blackburn - at Raiders on dual registration terms from Malvern Town for this week - by centre-half Stoddart to spark wild celebrations from the visiting support.
It was a third mistake of the evening from the hosts, who really should have taken all three points but in the end it was Pershore who were left celebrating their late equaliser and Raiders left wondering what might have been.
At full-time, Raiders' boss Karl Gormley admitted the result felt "a bit like a defeat".
"I thought we controlled the game for large parts and deserved to win the game," he said.
"I cannot fault the effort from the lads. The performance was chalk and cheese to the one against Brimscombe and Thrupp at the weekend, we were so much better.
"But in football, when you make mistakes, you get punished, especially against a good side like Pershore.
"Not many sides will pick up points against them in this league, they are a really good side and very well drilled with lots of quality so.
"But to lose like that so late in the same, it's gutting and it does feel like a bit of a defeat to be honest.
"But I think when we look back at the video we will be proud of the effort and the display we put in."
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