It was draws galore across the Sky Bet League Two on Saturday with six of the 12 matches played on the afternoon ending in a stalemate.
Pompey grab late draw
The most dramatic affair came at Fratton Park when Portsmouth fought back from three down to steal a point in a 3-3 draw with Morecambe. Tom Barkhuizen and Alan Goodhill gave the visitors a clear lead before a third from Andy Fleming in the 38rd minute seemed to all but settle the tie.
Gary Roberts managed to get two back either side of the break to give Pompey a fighting chance before Jordan Stockley rose to level the scores in the 90th minute to save a point for the South Coast club.
Five-goal thrillers
There were two 3-2 thrillers on Saturday with Yeovil and Leyton Orient edging out Luton Town and Newport County respectively.
Yeovil found themselves 2-0 down inside the 20-minute mark thanks to goals from Craig Mackail-Smith and Paul Benson. Stephen Athurworrey got one back before the break before a second-half brace from Ryan Bird gave the home side their first points of the season.
Orient came flying out of the traps finding themselves two up after the seven minutes with goals from Paul McCallum and Jay Simpson. Two goals in a minute from Scott Bowden and Mark Byrne brought Newport level but it was Dean Cox who proved the difference to keep Orient’s perfect start intact.
Easy wins
Bristol Rovers, Crawley, Plymouth and Stevenage all cruised to easy victories on Saturday.
Lee Brown and Jermaine Easter gave Rovers the lead over Barnet before Curtis Weston gave the visitors hope towards the end but Matt Taylor made sure of their third victory in four league matches.
It was the Rorie Deacon show when Crawley visited Cambridge, the 23-year-old managing to get his first two goals for the club each side of half-time. They were reduced to 10 men after Liam Donnelly’s dismissal but Gwion Edwards' tap-in secured all three points.
Plymouth had a comfortable trip to Northampton and came away with all three points thanks to goals from Graham Carey and Jake Jarvis. Teddy Sheringham’s Stevenage ended Hartlepool United’s perfect start to the season with Fraser Franks and Brett Williams strikes earning the former England international his first win as a manager.
Draws, draws and more draws
Saturday was a day of stalemates with four 1-1 draws and one game remaining goalless. Jabo Ibehre saved Carlisle United with his seventh goal of the season to save a point against AFC Wimbledon after Andy Barcham gave the visitors the lead in the first-half.
Mansfield will live to regret their penalty miss late on as they played put a draw with Oxford United, Craig Westcarr gave Mansfield the lead before Kemar Roofe levelled it up from the spot. Matt Green had the chance to win the three points but his set piece clattered the crossbar.
Matt Crook managed to nab a point for Accrington Stanley when they visited Nott’s County after Graham Burke had given the home side the lead. Defender Aaron Pierre scored an injury-time equaliser for Wycombe against Dagenham after former Wycombe man Matt McClure had given them the lead.
It was Exeter and York who played out the goalless draw at St James’ Park in what was a scrappy affair with both sides failing to create many chances.