Christian Ribeiro rescued a point for Exeter City as he headed home from an 87th minute corner against Burton Albion.
It stretched the Grecians unbeaten run to eight games in League Two and put them level on points with Newport County in the final play-off place.
City had trailed for the majority of the second half after Jacob Blyth had put the visitors into the lead with a shot from the edge of the six yard box.
The home side looked as though weren't going get back into the match, with them creating a lot less chances than they had done in their previous two victories against Acrrington Stanley and Shrewsbury Town.
But Ribeiro, who was on trial Burton in the summer, scored his second goal of the season with three minutes to go to get the draw.
Paul Tisdale kept faith with the same side that had started the 3-2 win over Accrington, with Graham Cummins partnering the in-form Tom Nichols up front.
There was no place for Ryan Harley in the squad, while captain Scot Bennett had to be content with a place on the bench having missed the Stanley game due to the birth of his child.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink made four changes to his starting line-up, including handing ex-Royal Antwerp defender Kelvin Maynard and Bryn Morris their first starts for the club.
The game represented a chance for both teams to steal a march on the rest League Two, with it being the only fixture played in the division because of the second round FA Cup ties.
However, neither side seemed like they wanted to take advantage of that in the first half, with it being a very dull affair when compared with the two five-goal thrillers City have been involved in recently.
James Hamon was brought into action just once in the first half when a Maynard header from a corner was aimed straight at him.
At the other end Alex Nicholls fired wide, after David Noble and Tom Nichols had done well to set him up with a volleying chance from the edge of the box.
Nicholls also had another low drive at goal from 18 yards out, in the 39th minute, but that was easily saved by Jon McLaughlin.
The referee Patrick Miller, who was not popular with the home fans for some questionable decisions, blew up for half-time before the scoreboard it the ground had ticked over to 45 minutes, but there was little complaint such was the inactivity in front of goal
City had the first chance of the second half when, on 50 minutes, Nicholls crossed for Graham Cummins, but Burton booted the ball clear.
Burton responded as Ben Morris dragged a shot wide from distance, which didn't look to have the significant power to trouble Hamon had it been on target.
Hamon was forced to dive quickly down to his right hand post moments later though as Darragh Lenihan struck a shot through a crowd of players.
Nichols had the ball in the side netting after 58 minutes, but it was the visitors who took the lead just before the hour as got to the by-line and sent a low cross into box that Jacob Blyth side footed, back across goal and into the bottom left corner of the net. It was the 22-year-old Leicester City loanee's fifth goal for the Brewers, with all of them coming away from home.
Tisdale made three changes on 65 minutes, bringing on Clinton Morrison, Bennett and David Wheeler for Nichols, Nicholls and Cummins.
It didn't seem to make much difference though as substitute Adam McGurk was next to go close for Burton as he had a shot from the eight yards out that was deflected behind for a corner.
However, with four minutes to go City got their equaliser when Ribeiro headed home at the back post after Matt Grimes corner had found him unmarked. It was only the Grecians second shot on target in the whole game, but enough to grab them a point, lift them up to eighth in the table and send the Big Bank into a chorus of 'Song for Stanno' as the game came to a close.
Exeter City (4-3-1-2): Hamon; Ribeiro, Butterfield, Oakley, Woodman; Sercombe, Noble, Grimes; Nicholls (Morrison, 65), Nichols (Bennett, 65), Cummins (Wheeler, 65). Subs not used: Pym, Keohane, Davies, Tillson.
Burton Albion (4-4-2): McLaughlin, Maynard (Slade, 69), Mousinho, Cansdell-Sherriff, McCrory, Morris (Palmer, 59), Lenihan, Weir, MacDonald, Beavon, Blyth (McGurk, 76). Subs not used: Matthews, Taft, Knowles, Harness.
Referee: Patrick Miller
Attendance: 3,381 (64 away)
