For the second time in five weeks a late goal for Sutton Coldfield Town robbed Welwyn Garden City of three points as the teams finished locked together at 1-1.

The previous game in January was Dean Barker’s first in charge of the Citizens and came with a hastily-assembled squad.

Since then the side has become a lot more settled and remain undefeated in the Southern League Division One Central, with this stalemate making it five draws and one win during the Barker reign.

That solitary success had arrived last week thanks in part to a double from Eusebio Da Silva and the powerful frontman’s header, 11 minutes into the second half at the Central Ground, looked to be bringing WGC another victory until a Ryan Nesbitt penalty two minutes from time brought parity.

It was a deserved point for the West Midlands outfit but City, under the guidance of Ben Anderos for this fixture with Barker away, continued to show plenty of fighting spirit that has been a hallmark of the last few weeks.

Welwyn almost fell behind inside five minutes but an on-target effort from Alex Moore was cleared off the line by Jay Rolfe.

Two minutes later, Nesbitt powered a strong shot over Lewis Todd’s crossbar as the hosts bossed the first half.

James Hurst went close with another blast while Rolfe and Jon Sexton both got in the way of goalbound efforts to keep the visitors level at half-time.

More early pressure at the start of the second-half saw the dangerous Nesbitt get the better of Ivan Agyaakwah but Todd rescued the situation, beating the effort away.

So it was somewhat against the run of play when WGC forced three corners in quick succession 10 minutes into the second period.

From the third of these, skipper Dave Keenleyside floated a fine delivery to the back post where Da Silva had escaped his marker and his header across goal found the net.

Todd, back from a one-match ban, made superb double save to deny first Niall Flint and then Nesbitt’s follow-up effort in great style.

And though Welwyn battled hard to retain their lead, a tussle between Taishan Griffith and Dan George saw the referee point to the spot and Nesbitt did the rest.

WGC host Corby Town tomorrow night (Tuesday).