Guiseley had to come back from two goals down at half-time to claim a point on the road as a Brad Nicholson brace earned them a 2-2 draw at Leamington.

The New Windmill Ground hosts were eight places below the Lions in the Vanarama National North table but they didn’t stand on ceremony as they grabbed an early lead, but the match turned when Brakes defender Stephan Morley was sent off for denying a scoring opportunity as he pulled Guiseley’s leading scorer Aaron Martin back.

The 68th minute free-kick led to Nicholson netting Guiseley’s first, not directly as his strike was blocked, but his follow-up went in off the post. With just two minutes remaining Nicholson headed the equaliser from a corner and the Lions threatened to take all three points as they forced a couple of corners in stoppage time.

The Brakes edged a tight first half and were clinical with their few chances. Joe Clarke had netted that early goal with a good strike from outside the area and Josh March had slotted home a loose ball midway through the first half.

Joint Lions boss Marcus Bignot said: “It was the old game of two halves and the difference was, Leamington’s front three in the first half contained our back line and their middle three were all over second balls.

“I felt that turned on its head to a degree in the second half. I felt our front three dictated to their back line and I thought our midfield got on top of theirs. Their front three were still a threat but if you get two of those three lines right you tend to get a second half performance like we did.

“I thought we were in the ascendancy in that second half even before the sending off. In fact when I saw the incident I hoped it wasn’t a red card because it can be difficult against ten men. But the referee made the decision and then we used the spare man really well.”

Farsley Celtic also had to comeback from a goal down to earn a point on the road but their 1-1 draw at Hereford saw the ball in the net four times, with the Bulls’ boss Russell Slade claiming the Celts should have been two goals down before their stoppage time strike.

Farsley were the first to get the ball in the back of the net. A Luke Parkin header from a Jimmy Spencer cross hit the post before Nathan Cartman poked it over the line, but an offside flag allowed the home side to sigh with relief.

That was just after the quarter hour mark and the deadlock wasn’t broken until midway through the second half. Alex Bray had been on for just three minutes after replacing Peter Vincenti and his first contribution was an assist for Taylor Allen whose shot went in off the post.

With the game heading for the final ten minutes, Bray slotted past Celts keeper Kyle Trenerry, only for chaos to ensue. The referee signalled a goal, Trenerry and his defenders reacted angrily and the assistant raised a flag.

The goal was ruled out for offside, Trenerry was shown a yellow card and someone from Farsley’s technical area was sent off. The Celts grabbed their equaliser through Jack Higgins, the defender heading home in stoppage time.

Slade fumed: “Football kicks you in the teeth sometimes – the decision to disallow our second goal was a huge error. We looked more of a threat going forward. The players are hurt, I’m hurt, that we didn’t get the three points we deserved.”