Kyle Watkins headed home a stoppage time equaliser to earn Boston Town a share of the Hallowe’en derby spoils.
It was a richly deserved point for Chris Funnell’s side, who dominated large periods of the second half after having gone 2-0 behind yet again.
Grantham took the lead after 17 minutes when the ball squirmed into the net at the near post from a lo thrown, Dan Dougill being credited with the goal.
A bizarre first half saw a couple of stoppages as one of the assistant referees went down injured.
Funnell’s coaching team were uncomfortable with the initial replacement, who ran to his position giving a thumbs-up sign to the home supporters. After a lengthy delay, an appeal was put out for a qualified official and an alternative replacement was found to run the line.
The Gingerbreads doubled their lead soon after play restarted as a quick free-kick found Lee Shaw in space and he converted past Jake West.
But Harry Limb threw the Poachers a lifeline almost immediately from the restart as he ran onto a superb through ball and slotted home a historic goal – his 100th for the club and, astonishingly, the first by any Boston Town player against Grantham since 1989.
After the break, Boston – appropriately wearing their pumpkin orange away kit – really started to put the frighteners on the hosts.
Limb was close to getting a second when he smashed a shot from an angle against the bar. The tricky Aziz Mhamdi could only divert it wide when he slid in at the far post to try to convert Limb’s low cross from the right. Mhamdi had also earlier had loud penalty shouts turned down when he appeared to be clipped just as he was about to cross from the byline – not only that, but he was shown a yellow card, seemingly for diving.
Funnell threw on Tom Siddons and the returning Layton Maddison as the Poachers continued to pour forward. But the final word went to another player who, like Maddison, had missed nine games through injury.
Watkins, seeing his first action since mid-September, climbed highest to head home a corner deep into injury time to make sure it was the Poachers fans who went home the happier.
Boston Town: West, Bayliss, Smith (Graves), Tate, Ging, Watkins, Munton (Siddons), Gibbons (Maddison), Cotton, Limb, Mhamdi; unused subs: Hudson, Zaluzinskis
