St Albans City needed an equaliser one minute into stoppage time to rescue their FA Cup campaign before it had started.

George Morrall poked home after a scramble in the box to give them a 1-1 draw at home to AFC Sudbury, a team from two steps down the football pyramid.

The away side looked the more threatening throughout and Saints' front four of Joe Neal, Liam Sole, Zane Banton and Shaun Jeffers failed to click.

Sudbury had a goal disallowed 25 minutes in after a quick counter attack culminated in a tidy finish from Nnamdi Nwachuku but the number nine was judged to be offside during the build-up.

They threatened again when Joshua Stokes pulled the ball back to Ben Hunter just outside the six-yard box, after some tricky work down the right, but Hunter’s header flashed wide.

St Albans did almost open the scoring in added time of the first half when Michael Clark crossed from deep into Jeffers.

His header looked to be looping straight into the hands of Joshua Blunkell, but the keeper spilled it and was forced to scramble back to prevent the ball going over the line.

After half-time, not much changed. St Albans dominated possession for most of the half but failed to create anything meaningful until an eventful final 10 minutes.

The only chances for the Saints were half-ones the edge of the area through Sole and Tafari Moore, both flying just over the bar.

Sudbury went in front 10 minutes from time. Callum Adebiyi’s loose pass was pounced on by Nwachuku and after the striker had gone past Joy Mukena, he found the top right corner with a composed finish.

Just as the game looked to be ending in disappointment for the Saints, Morrall, only brought on in the 86th minute, made a difference.

After the ball ricocheted around the box after a series of valiant blocks from Sudbury defenders the ball fell to the youngster who showed great composure to find the top right corner of the net in added time and rescue a replay for the Saints.