CIRENCESTER Town earned a valuable point at home to Southern League Division One Central leaders Bedford Town thanks to Luca Robinson's late equaliser.

Bedford's Leon Lobjoit gave the visitors the lead just before the hour but Robinson found the bottom corner in the 80th minute to give the hosts a deserved point and keep them in the play-off places.

The hosts stated their intent from the first whistle and set about their work immediately from the kick-off, with keeper Stuart Nelson called into early action to block Liam Dulson's shot.

But the hosts held their ground and had chances themselves to break the deadlock as the half wore on, none more so than when Felix Miles' attempted chip over keeper Mark Smith dropped the wrong side of the post.

Miles had another effort go agonisingly wide just before the break, but the scores remained tied at half-time.

It was end-to-end at the start of the second period but it would be the league leaders who struck first.

Lobjoit was fouled as he looked to weave his way into the Cirencester box, resulting in referee Said Ouchene pointing to the spot for a penalty, that Lobjoit dispatched into the bottom corner.

The response was good, however. Ben Whitehead curled a shot onto the crossbar and Jake Lee headed wide as The Centurions took the game to Bedford.

The pressure was mounting on the Bedford defence and keeper Smith was becoming busier between the sticks. He saved from Harry Burns but could do nothing about the equaliser as Robinson, from the left side edge of the Bedford box, moved inside past a couple of would-be challenges before driving the ball inside the left post.

Not satisfied with a point, Cirencester pushed for a winner and came so close to finding it with one of the final plays of the game. Lee produced a 50-yard pass that cleared the visitors defence for Aidan Bennett to chase to the edge of the Bedford box, but his attempted lob was just wide of the target.