Marine were 5 minutes away from moving out of the National League North relegation zone when super-sub Aidan Rutledge rescued a 2-2 draw in the 91st minute for Spennymoor Town FC.

It took Neil Young’s men a while to defrost at the freezing Marine Travel Arena, and it was Spennymoor took the lead on 17 minutes through top goal scorer Issac Fletcher, his 10th goal of the season.

Five minutes later Spennymoor had the opportunity to go 2-0 up but Marine keeper Matty Corran just managed to beat Will Harris to the ball and clear his lines.

on the stroke of half time James Brown brought the home side back in to the game with his his second goal in four days, and that provided the spark for their second half performance.

The Mariners took the lead four minutes after the break. Leigh Whelan’s cross was met by the diving Callum Agius who headed home in his first start for the club.

Six minutes later, Marine’s Spaniard Enock Lusiama had the chance to put his side 3-1 up and put the result beyond doubt, but he could not control the through ball from Finlay Sinclair-Smith.

Marine continued to dominate but lacked any cutting edge to put the game to bed.

No sooner had the fourth official raised his board to reveal there were six added minutes substitute Rutledge shattered Marine hearts after he nestled the ball into the back of the net past Corran to rescue a point with five minutes of added time to play.

The Mariners will now look for a response in their fixture against local rivals Southport on Saturday.                                   

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