Lincoln City were left to rue their luck once again as Josh Low struck in injury-time to deny the Imps a precious away victory at Northampton Town.
After opening the scoring early on through Gary Birch?s eighth goal of the campaign, City bossed the match at Sixfields Stadium before crucially switching off in the 93rd minute to allow winger Low to snatch a point for Colin Calderwood?s men.
Manager Keith Alexander made two changes to the side that lost at Cheltenham, with Dean Keates and Derek Asamoah replacing Lee Beevers and Luke Foster.
Keates, who had been suspended for the previous three matches, took over from Foster in midfield, while the banned Beevers was replaced by Asamoah, with Alexander reverting to a flat back four again.
Gareth McAuley moved out to right-back, with Paul Morgan partnering Jamie McCombe at the heart of the Imps defence, and Paul Mayo at left-back.
Asamoah joined Birch and Richard Logan up front, with Alexander keeping faith with his tried and trusted ?three men in attack? policy.
And rather than sit back in the opening stages, City quickly took the game to the Cobblers, and they should have opened the scoring inside five minutes, after a superb counter-attacking move.
Logan had given away a needless free-kick deep into the City half, but Eoin Jess? kick was cleared by the visitors, with the ball finding its way to Asamoah near the halfway line.
The ex-Cobbler raced down the byline, and with Birch scampering forward in support, Asamoah slid the ball across to City?s leading scorer, who screwed his shot wide from 12 yards.
Just five minutes later, City won a free-kick deep into Northampton territory, when Pedj Bojic fouled Mayo. Keates swung in a superb cross, which Northern Ireland international McAuley headed wide from close range.
It was a rampant start by Alexander?s men, with most people expecting his side to sit back and soak up the pressure. But it got even better in the 14th minute when City took the lead.
And it came from a dazzling piece of wing play by Asamoah. He turned the Cobblers defence inside out before laying the ball off to Birch, who crashed home a volley to put Lincoln firmly in the driving seat.
It took the home side until the 27th minute to seriously threaten Alan Marriott?s goal, when former Boston striker Andy Kirk headed wide from Josh Low?s cross.
Kirk and then Martin Smith were then restricted to long-range efforts ? comfortably dealt with by Marriott ? as the Imps continued to frustrate the home side.
It looked like Alexander had got his tactics spot on as the half drew to a close, with Nat Brown performing a man-marking job on midfield veteran Ian Taylor, which effectively nulled the threat of the home side. Taylor?s frustration at being shadowed by Brown had seen him booked for hacking down Asamoah.
On the stroke of half-time McGleish nearly grabbed an equaliser, but he saw a shot blocked by Morgan before heading an effort against Birch. The Imps duly held out to take a one-goal lead into the break.
City almost made the perfect start to the second-half, when Brown took leave of his marking duties to drill a shot goalwards. The ball was heading for the top corner, but keeper Lee Harper made a brilliant save to palm the ball for a corner.
Brown, with six goals to his credit this season, was again in the thick of the action a couple of minutes later. Keates was hauled down by Jess, and Mayo?s kick was met by Brown who headed narrowly wide.
With the Cobblers by now chasing shadows, manager Calderwood decided to thrown on Junior Mendes for Jess and the on-loan Huddersfield striker made an immediate impact.
Receiving the ball deep in the Imps half, he darted forward and unleashed a powerful drive that was brilliantly saved by Marriott.
The same player then crashed a volley goalwards, but Morgan did well to block the effort.
But as the half wore on, City gradually began to sit back content with their one-goal advantage, but that didn? t stop Birch going close with a couple of efforts midway through the half.
Morgan was then surprisingly replaced by Matt Bloomer in the 71st minute, but the Imps continued to soak up the pressure as Northampton became increasingly frustrated, with four home players by now finding their way into Andy D?Urso?s notebook.
Kirk and Jason Crowe tried their luck from long range as the game entered its dying stages, and then Alexander brought on Foster for Birch, purely as a measure to run down the clock.
But just as it looked City were heading for maximum points, so their age-old lack of concentration problem came back to haunt them again, as Northampton levelled deep into stoppage-time.
With the match entering its final throes, Harper?s long clearance was helped on by Mendes. The ball fell kindly fo Low who ran on through the visitors? defence to superbly lob Marriott and bag an undeserved equaliser to break the City?s hearts.
But there was still just enough time for City to nip down the other end and nick a winner, but Brown saw his header confortably saved by Harper.
Player Ratings
Alan Marriott 7
Gareth McAuley 7
Paul Mayo 6
Jamie McCombe 7
Paul Morgan 7
Scott Kerr 6
Dean Keates 6
Nat Brown 8
Gary Birch 7
Richard Logan 6
Derek Asamoah 6
Matt Bloomer 6, Luke Foster 5
Manager Rating
Keith Alexander 7
Got his tactics correct and should have seen his side win the game, but not even he can legislate for lapses of concentration.
