Steve Burr insists he never gave up on Chester FC getting something from the game with Grimsby Town even though his team trailed 2-0 with 15 minutes to go.
Ollie Palmer and Jon-Paul Pittman put the promotion-chasing Mariners on course for the win but quick-fire replies from Ben Heneghan and John Rooney got the Blues back on terms, setting up a grandstand finish.
Both teams might have found a third goal in the closing stages but the game ended level at 2-2 , securing Chester a point that looked highly unlikely with a quarter of an hour to play.
Burr said afterwards: "I was hopeful. I had a feeling about today that we were going to win especially after Tuesday with the way we played at Torquay and in general how we've been of late.
"I was always optimistic that if we got that goal we could kick on and we certainly did that. It's just a pity we ran out of time. Jon Worsnop's made terrific saves as well and they could of won it at the death couldn't they? It's just pleasing we got something out of a game that was entertaining and exciting for everybody here.
"We just felt first-half - and they're a good side, you can see why there are up there and they've got some good players in there - but we just felt we didn't get on the front foot and that was a point we made at half-time to try and get in behind them and play down the sides of them and we did that.
"We felt a bit aggrieved that we didn't have a penalty early on with Oli (McBurnie). Maybe it was the way he went down but Oli's adamant he was fouled and that might have been a different scenario then but they took their goal well
"I just felt that we didn't really protect the ball enough in the first-half so we changed things round a little bit in the second-half and it was like a basketball game, end to end.
"I thought we were going to win it right at the death with the one that fell to (John) Rooney and then Hobby (Craig Hobson) just before that but I'm delighted to get something out of the game against a top side."
