AFC Telford 1 Grimsby 1 - Pictures and report

A 35-yard wonder-strike from defender Andy Parry opened the scoring in the first-half, before the Bucks were pegged back by a Jack MacKreth header just before the hour mark.

In a game that was a cracking advert for non-league football, both sides pushed for a winner late on with Telford worthy of a point despite the Mariners greater quality.

Boss Liam Watson made three changes to the side that slipped to the disappointing 3-1 home defeat against Braintree.

Ditching the 4-4-2 system employed against the Iron, Watson reverted back to his favoured 3-5-2 with cultured wing-back Kyle Brownhill coming for his first league start.

Returning to the side was Sam Smith, who got the nod up front in place of Adam Farrell, while Kristian Platt came into the Bucks midfield in place of Sean Cooke.

After a cagey opening five minutes, the Mariners had the first real chance of the game when Ryan Wiggins was caught out of position allowing Arostote Nsiala to cross.

His delivery found Nathan Arnold in the box, who had time to steady himself but fired straight at goalkeeper Freddy Hall.

Seconds later and Grimsby again came close to opening the scoring.

Jon-Paul Pittman slipped in a wonderful through ball to Lenell John-Lewis who raced into the box and hit a low shot which Hall did well to push around the post.

Grimsby were finding pockets of space all over the field but Telford hit back when Karl Ledsham struck a low shot from 20-yards which the goalkeeper saved.

As the game approached the 20 minute mark a hopeful ball over the top saw Pittman beat the offside trap and muscle his way through on goal but he lofted the ball over Hall and over the bar.

The Bucks responded when a free-kick into the box was only half cleared and seemed to drop kindly for Tony Gray but the ball was nipped off the striker's toe by a covering defender.

With the Telford defence being pulled all over the place, John-Lewis did brilliantly to control the ball and work his own chance in the box which Rod McDonald bravely blocked.

Paul Hurst's side were passing the ball at will in a game that was looking very much like relegation candidates against promotion favourites.

However in the 35th minute Telford took the lead with an unbelievable strike from defender Andy Parry.

The defender burst forward and hit a wonderful strike from 35-yards which seemed to be going straight at James McKeown until it swerved sweetly in the air.

The goalkeeper completely lost flight of the ball as it flew past him and into the back of the net to completely changed the atmosphere around the New Bucks Head.

Grimsby's angry fans responded by throwing a flare onto the pitch but while their team searched for an equaliser Steve Akrigg and Rod McDonald stood firm to clear hopeful deliveries into the box.

The second-half started with Grimsby looking for an early leveller and a Jack Mackreth pull-back was poorly cleared by Akrigg but Craig Disley's shot was deflected for a corner.

Telford responded with their best move of the match. Tigerish play from Gray saw him get to the byline and cut the ball back to Godfrey Poku who fired over.

Buoyed, the Bucks came forward again with Ledsham seeing a sweet strike from 18 yards deflected wide with McDonald heading the subsequent corner over.

Telford had started the second half on the front foot but Grimsby almost levelled when great footwork from Arnold saw him beat two defenders and square to Pittman who fired horribly wide.

Seconds later though the Mariners had equalised. Pittman worked himself a yard of space on the left and sent in a delicious cross which Mackreth headed home.

The goal saw the pendulum swing again in Grimsby's favour with Telford once more hanging on like they had in the first half.

And the away side almost took the lead when Pittman latched onto a John-Lewis flick but his effort was brilliantly saved by Hall.

The Bucks looked to regain the initiative and should have gone back in front when Brownhill's brilliantly taken free-kick was met by Akrigg but the defender headed wide when well placed.

Watson began to tinker just past the hour mark with Platt making way for Charlie Barnett before Smith was replaced by Adam Farrell. Then with 15 minutes to go, Josh Hancock came on for Gray.

The changes seemed to have an affect with the Bucks winning a succession of corners as they went in search of a winner.

Adam Farrell then danced his way past a few challenges and into the box before seeing his low cross cleared.

Grimsby were being restricted to long range efforts with neither side creating too many clear chances in the last 10 minutes.

But as the fourth official indicated four minutes of stoppage time, Brownhill slipped with Arnold seizing the ball and squaring to John-Lewis who appeared to be brought down in the box.

With the Mariners screaming for a penalty the referee pointed for a corner much to the relief of the Bucks faithful.

With just 20 seconds of the four minutes remaining, Grimsby won another corner which Shaun Pearson powerfully headed over, allowing Telford to pick up a very precious point.