An equaliser in the third minute of injury time denied Rushall Olympic a deserved victory at Leek Town as the hosts maintained their unbeaten home league record by the skin of their teeth.

Play was always going to be difficult in persistent rain that made the going under foot increasingly heavy.

But the home side twice threatened in the opening stages a couple of minutes apart, as Chris Gemmell saved well from Daniel Cope and then skipper Niki Preston was in the right place at the right time to deflect Richard Bailey’s close range effort over the crossbar.

Olympic’s new strike pairing of Ramone Stephens and Damien Charie were looking extremely useful as the hosts struggled to keep a tight rein on the pacey duo.

Indeed, on 25 minutes their partnership quickly paid dividends when the skilful Stephens got past the full-back before rounding the home keeper and rolling the ball into the net to give his side the lead.

At the other end, Pics goalkeeper Gemmell caused the visitors palpitations twice in a matter of minutes towards the end of the first period after unadvisedly racing off his line on both occasions, but fortunately each opening went unpunished by the home side.

During the second period both sides became embroiled in something of a midfield battle, with good football made extremely difficult by the ball holding up in the boggy conditions. As a result goalscoring opportunities for both sides came very much at a premium.

But, with all three points seemingly heading back down the M6, in the third minute of injury time Leek broke down the left hand side through Bailey.

His low ball into the danger area skidded across the surface and evaded everyone but substitute Paul McMahon at the far post, who stabbed in the equaliser against his former club to extend Olympic’s winless run.