A magnificent goal by left-back Adam Smith deep in stoppage time earned a potentially priceless point for Lowestoft in their quest for survival in Vanarama National League North.

The Trawlerboys were heading for a narrow, but damaging, defeat at Tamworth when the game entered the fifth minute of added time trailing to Kaid Mohamed's 43rd-minute goal.

That was a stylish strike, direct from a 20-yard free-kick. And when, with the game into its 95th minute, Lowestoft were awarded a free-kick in a similar central area, slightly further out, the pressure was on to deliver.

Smith delivered something special – a textbook effort around the wall and beyond the helpless goalkeeper into the top corner.

The celebrations said it all. A point had been rescued by a sensational equaliser while Curzon Ashton's late leveller against Brackley had denied the Oxfordshire club two huge points.

'We deserved a point for our endeavour in the second half,' Lowestoft manager Ady Gallagher said.

'We were disappointed to come in a goal down after conceding a goal just before half-time but you have to admire the guts of the players.'

The Trawlerboys still have work to do to preserve their status but they know that victory at home to North Ferriby tomorrow night would do the trick.

They deserved a point at The Lamb from a match in which there was little to suggest which side was striving to go up and which was battling to stay up.

It was always tight and became quite tetchy late on but ultimately Gallagher's side was rewarded for their resilience.

Among their stars was goalkeeper Jake Jessup, abruptly recalled from his loan spell at Norwich United after Norwich City loanee Ben Killip suffered concussion in training on Thursday. The youngster responded to the challenge well with a handful of saves which meant that Smith's late classic was a point-earner rather than a pointless consolation.

Lowestoft started brightly, their intricate passing contrasting with the home side's more direct approach. Danny Crow had an early shot charged down then delivered a fizzing free-kick from the left which Ryan Jarvis should have done better with than head over the bar.

A minute later Jessup did well to keep out Connor Taylor's deflected 20-yarder and save Lee Smith's follow-up.

Chris Henderson, drifting around the frontline, posed the Trawlerboys' biggest threat and almost supplied the lead with an edge-of-the-box daisy-cutter which James Belshaw turned for a corner.

As the first half wore on, Tamworth threatened a little more. Danny Newton powered in a header which Jessup saved and the keeper also did well to parry an angled drive by Newton. But he was left helpless just before the break when Mohamed's free-kick looped over a less-than-impregnable wall.

Tamworth almost doubled their lead soon after half-time when Newton was allowed space to send a low shot skidding across the face of goal. The home side held their lead with relative comfort, although a cross from Ryan Jarvis picked out Henderson whose chest-down almost fell for the onrushing Andrew Fisk.

Fisk then threw himself in the path of Taylor's 71st-minute thunderbolt at the other end to keep the Trawlerboys in the game. How crucial that block proved to be when, with the home fans baying for the final whistle, Smith silenced them with his brilliant strike.