Leek Town and Workington shared the spoils with a 2-2 draw in a competitive and, at times, feisty encounter that produced a total of seven bookings and also saw the unusual occurrence of each side scoring an own goal.

Leek, who were unchanged from the previous weeks impressive win at Whitby, looked to be heading for defeat after initially leading before being rescued by Jordan Littles bizarre own goal on 87mins.

It had all started so well for the Blues who were the better side for the first quarter as they took the game to their opponents with Connor Heath showing some neat touches in holding the ball up front along with a couple of clever spins and turns; the first of which opened up space to deliver a low ball into the box that Liam Buckley was just unable to gather, whilst the second nearly created the opening for a shot but the Workington defence were able to crowd him out.

The visitors had a rare attack in the opening period with Buckley producing two quick blocks in succession from Josh Galloway attempts before Leek took a deserved lead on 13mins with a nice move down the left which resulted in a ball being played inside the full back for Alex Hurst to run onto. Hurst picked out Heath with the cross and the centre forward who had pulled off his marker into space neatly placed his header back across goal and into the top corner for a smart finish.

The Blues remained on top and Hurst nearly capitalised on a back header that was fumbled by goalkeeper Danny Eccles but the officials had already signalled that the ball had gone out for a corner which was subsequently defended by Workington.

On 25mins there was a lengthy stoppage following an injury to Workington midfielder Tom Stephenson and this interruption seemed to change the games dynamics and flow. The away side took the opportunity to regroup and looked the better side after the restart taking control of the game although it took an own goal from Tom Curl on 32mins to bring the scores level.

Ceiran Casson had already blazed over a good opportunity following a pull back from the Workington left before the visitors attacked down the opposite flank and a wicked delivery was whipped into the area that Curl diverted into his own net under pressure from Kai Nugent.

The visitors tails were up and just a couple of minutes later Leek escaped when Steven Rigg curled an effort just over after an exchange of passes with Nugent on the edge of the area.

The Blues were looking second best but could have had a penalty on 39mins but Tunde Owolabi stayed on his feet after being caught by Steven Swinglehurst in the area with the contact being clearly heard but the referee deciding to take no action. Then Owolabi produced another good turn a moment later to advance to the edge of the area but his attempt to place the ball into the bottom corner was slightly misdirected and it went narrowly wide.

The play swung to the other end and Olly Heywood received a caution for deliberately blocking off a Workington player from receiving a one two, and the Blues would be punished from the resultant free kick. The ball was delivered into the area and although it was cleared to the edge it fell nicely for Stephensons replacement, Dan Hopper, to hit a sweet first time left footed effort that flew into the net, and the game had been turned completely around.

Although stunned by the turn of events Leek nearly equalised immediately from the restart as they came forward and the ball was played low into the feet of Heath just outside the area. He held it up well before feeding it into the path of Lucas Weir who was breaking into the box. Weir took it on a yard before trying to find the same corner of the net as Owolabi earlier but with the same result as his effort was also just wide as the sides went into the break.

LEEK TOWN 1 - WORKINGTON AFC 2 HT

The second half proved to be a frustrating watch for the majority of the 438 spectators as Leek huffed and puffed to try and get back in the game but were clearly struggling against a Workington side that were working their socks of with two to three red shirts always seeming to be around the Leek player in possession forcing passes to be misplaced.

The visitors were also looking threatening on the counterattack and on one occasion a swift break involving Riggs and Nugent ended with Hopper getting in front of Buckley to curl an effort over Dino Vissers crossbar.

As more and more Leek passing began to go astray or be telegraphed and cut out by a Red shirt manager Josh Brehaut decided he had seen enough and made wholesale changes bringing on 4 of his 5 substitutions within a short space of time.

There was some marginal improvement with subs Ollie Shenton and Adam Porter providing some impetus and Alex Hurst starting to see more of the ball over on the left. However, the Blues winger was being targeted with some rough challenges and Josh Galloway and Charlie Barnes were both booked for nasty looking fouls on him.

Hursts mood also did not improve when he was in space to receive the ball and potentially run at goal following a break forward by Owolabi but the pass did not arrive as Owolabi took an extra touch and overran the ball.

Just when it looked as though the Blues had run out of ideas the equaliser arrived in unusual circumstances after 87mins. Shenton had received the ball outside the Workington area and, spotting the run of Heywood up from his full back position, he played a clever ball to find Heywood inside the box. As Eccles came out to block Haywood managed to stab the ball past him only to see it hit the inside of the post and come back out into play where Jordan Little, obviously trying to clear the danger, lashed the ball into his own net from a couple of yards out before holding his head in his hands in amazement at what he had just done.

With 6 minutes of added time signalled the Blues smelt blood and the chance of an unlikely victory as they came forward again with Porter being fouled by Little on the edge of the area with the Workington man, who was having a bad five minutes, picking up a booking for his troubles. Callum Leigh’s effort, however, was straight into the wall.

Both sides then had late chances to win the three points. Hurst had a shot blocked inside the Workington area after a ball from the right had found its way to him and Liam Edwards saw his header gathered by Eccles, whilst Workingtons Dav Symington thought he had won it with one of his trademark driven efforts but saw it fly just wide of the post as the game ended all square.

LEEK TOWN 2 - WORKINGTON AFC 2 FT

REPORT BY WINNERS LAD

So a point at home for the Blues as the spoils were shared with Workington. Leek now have a sequence of five away games before returning to home comforts on Boxing Day (26 December) where they play Stockbridge Park Steels.