Grimsby Town have been held to a 1-1 draw at bottom-placed side AFC Telford United despite dominating for much of the game at New Buck's Head.
It was apparent during the early stages why 22 places separated the two sides in the Conference Premier table as Grimsby pushed forward at will. Nathan Arnold had a decent strike well kept out by Freddy Hall before Lenell John-Lewis was denied by the Bermuda stopper after being played through on goal.
Hall was back in the action to prevent Jon-Paul Pittman from opening the scoring before AFC Telford took a surprise lead when Andy Parry's long-range effort beat goalkeeper James McKeown.
Grimsby brushed off the setback by continuing to plough forward but after Hall made a fourth save of the half to keep out Arnold, the Mariners went into the break facing a deficit.
AFC Telford had chances to double their lead at the start of the second half, with Godfrey Poku and Rod McDonald getting efforts in on goal, but they were made to pay for their missed chances when Grimsby pulled level.
With 15 minutes gone in the second half, Pittman delivered an inviting ball to Jack Mackreth, who attacked the ball to nod in his first goal for the club.
Pittman almost turned from creator to goalscorer five minutes later when latching o nto a flick from John-Lewis, but Hall just got enough on the ball to turn it behind for a corner.
AFC Telford were holding their own but it was Grimsby who had the late opportunities to nick a winner. However, after Scott Neilson had driven wide from distance, the home side were able to hang on for an impressive point against the promotion chasers.
Darren Plant
