Joint player-manager Mark Saunders scored in injury-time as Exmouth Town drew 1-1 with second-placed Bodmin Town.
And co-boss Kevin Hill felt his side deserved a point from the match at Southern Road – their first outing for three weeks.
Exmouth had not played since a 0-0 draw with Newquay on January 24, so Hill was understandably concerned about a lack of match practice going into the contest.
But the players got back into the flow of things quickly, and kept going as they tired after the break in search of a leveller after Adam Carter's penalty.
"We deserved it, we battled hard," said Hill. "We hadn't played for three weeks and we've been struggling to train as well, and they're flying up there in the table, so we did really well.
"We played well in the first half, naturally we tired a bit in the second half but the lads kept going and going and we scored with minute to go.
"It was a good point and we've got a few of the top sides coming up, but we prefer those sort of games."
Saunders had only just gone on – his first game for a few months due to injury – but found the back of the net in injury-time.
The Southern Road outfit have another tricky test this weekend as they face third-placed Ivybridge at home.
Cullompton Rangers were on the receiving end of a 5-0 defeat at Plymouth Parkway on Saturday.
The home side were 3-0 up midway through the first half, after goals from Levi Landricombe, former Tiverton Town player Marcus Martin and Andrew Neal.
A penalty from Jordan Trott and a second from Neal completed the misery for Cully, who host Torpoint Athletic this weekend.
Bovey Tracey also conceded five goals, but they pushed league leaders Saltash United all the way before going down to a 5-4 defeat.
Lewis Haywood, Dan Taylor, Joel Fath and Lee Pascoe netted for Bovey in the end-to-end thriller.
↧