CINDERFORD Town earned a point against Southern League Division One leaders Sholing with an extraordinary performance.

Despite being at opposite ends of the table, it was the Foresters who created more chances in the first half and they will have been disappointed that it finished 0-0 after 45 minutes.

Ryan Gosney in the Boatmen’s goal made a good save with his feet and then beat a shot as Town found gaps in the defence.

Felix Miles had a good chance after being put through just after the 20-minute mark but Gosney was quick off his line to stifle the threat and keep his side on level terms.

The Southampton visitors’ best chance came after 25 minutes when Lee Worst’s shot from the edge of the box was tipped onto the underside of the bar by Town’s keeper Ellis Parker.

Cinderford continued to ask questions but could not break the stalemate and the half ended goal-less.

Sholing boss Dave Diaper made two changes for the second half and they changed the momentum of the game.

The visitors were in charge and the pressure told on the hour when Charlie Wagstaffe’s shot went in off the post to put Sholing in front.

Town had an opportunity to level the scores almost immediately but the effort went wide,

With a 25 minutes left, the visitors doubled their lead when Brad Targett met a cross at the far post and swept the ball across the line at the second attempt.

Despite being two goals behind, Cinderford did not let their heads dropped and the game still had twists and turns.

Town manager Alex Sykes brought on Fin Bell for Jack Freeman after 67 minutes and then, with a quarter of an hour left, Felix Miles made way for impactful striker Mike Symons.

At this point there would have been few at The Causeway Ground who would have had confidence that Cinderford could salvage anything from the game.

Cinderford looked stronger but Sholing had two more chances to put the result absolutely beyond doubt but could not convert them.

Town reduced the deficit with five minutes left when a corner from the left was headed home powerfully by Symonds.

Looking for the equaliser, Sykes brought on Jack Bartman for Jamie Bremner with two minutes of normal time left.

The equaliser came in the 90th minute when a shot by Will Emery took a deflection to beat Gosney.

Writing on social media, a delighted Sykes said: “Hopefully all the @Cinderford_Town fans saw the spirit, quality & fight from my lads. Long may this continue...”

Sholing boss Diaper was impressed by the Foresters’ doggedness.

Writing on the Sholing FC website, he wrote: “Give credit to Alex and his Cinderford side who showed great resilience and determination to get back in the game and if they can carry that into other games will certainly be in this league next season.”

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Cinderford Town: Ellis Parker, Dion Molyneux, Dan Hill, Tris Haswell, Jamie Bremner, Dan Barnard, Jack Bartman, Will Emery, Brendan Liggett, Jack Freeman, Harry Emmett, Felix Miles, Stuart Fleetwood, Mike Symons, Joe Haswell, Mitch McCann, Fin Bell, Will Morford, Fin Jones.