Bradford Park Avenue 2, Boston 2

Bradford Park Avenue stuttered and stumbled yet again at home but they managed to earn an injury-time point against visitors Boston United.

It was an opportunity missed by the Bradford club because if they had beaten their former Football League counterparts they could have rocketed up the UniBond Premier Division table.

Victory would have seen them joint sixth but the draw they ended up with does not even lift them out of the bottom half.

The Boston players will have travelled back to Lincolnshire wondering why they had not recorded a maximum at Horsfall Stadium.

They took the lead on the half-hour when home keeper Steve Dickinson failed to gather a rolling ball and Mark Newsome raced through to slot in.

Avenue levelled in the 52nd minute when Simon Baldry headed home a Stephen Downes free-kick.

Parity lasted just two minutes before Newsome broke through to grab his second of the evening.

Just before the hour, Bradford boss Lee Sinnott made a double substitution by bringing on Luke Gibson and Chris Hall.

Both players missed the weekend game, Gibson due to illness and Hall through injury.

And it was Gibson who was the hero as he fired in the equaliser two minutes into added time to paper over the cracks of what was an under-par display.

Changes were enforced on Sinnott because James Knowles, who played in the centre of defence in Saturday’s 4-1 home win in the FA Cup over Bishop Auckland, was suspended.

That meant a switch from left back to centre half for Chris Stabb and a start for Jamie Price, who was promoted from off the bench.

Meanwhile, Avenue have been drawn at home to Blue Square North outfit Harrogate Town in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup.