Alfreton Town 1, Chorley 1: Late Hall penalty earns Magpies a point

And it was Mr Reliable, Connor Hall, who stepped up to crash home a match-saving penalty awarded in the fifth minute of added time.

The Magpies had trailed to a lively Alfreton side from the 23rd minute when Chesterfield loanee Luke Rawson got on the end of a well-flighted corner to put the hosts ahead.

The Derbyshire side had the better of the first-half exchanges with Matt Urwin the busier keeper, fielding strong shots from both Rawson and Dan Bradley.

But Town stopper George Willis, when finally called on to make a serious contribution right on half-time, distinguished himself with a superb reflex save from Scott Leather at close range.

More was seen from Chorley now playing against the slope after the break and Willis was at full stretch to keep out a smart header from Hall. Alfreton defended their lead with great application and got bodies in the way to block efforts from Hall and substitutes Henley and Marah.

The home side were always a threat on the break and Urwin did well to deny Bradley at his near post.

Chorley built up late pressure and Elliot Newby flashed a shot narrowly wide. The final dramatic act arrived in the 95th minute when Mike Calveley went down in the box and the referee pointed to the spot.

Hall patiently endured an irksome delay before confidently smashing his penalty into the roof of the net.

The Magpies’ unbeaten run, which includes the outstanding FA Cup victories at Wigan and Peterborough, is even more remarkable considering that of the nine games involved this was the seventh away from home.

Manager Jamie Vermiglio was delighted by his side’s character and competitive attitude throughout.

He said: "A point was the least we deserved. We knew from the first ten seconds that we were in for a big physical battle and the lads have done really well and showed the character to stand up and be counted. There were some outstanding individual performances."

CHORLEY : Urwin, Birch, Smith, Leather, Baines (Henley,61), Calveley, Cardwell (Marah,52), Newby, Tomlinson, Shenton, Hall. Unused subs. Garratt, Putnam, Malaki.