Cobblers players felt they 'owed' fans a performance as Pinnock talks through his stoppage-time leveller

Over 27,000 people inside St Andrews held their breath as a misdirected clearance rolled into Pinnock’s path and the Town man held his nerve, firing home a sweet low finish to rescue a dramatic point for the Cobblers.

"The ball just ricocheted and in training those ones are probably my favourite finishes – shooting across goal,” said Pinnock. “I didn't want to get too excited but I had a good feeling I would score that one.

"It's about hitting the target first and foremost but I like that finish, let it come across the body and as soon as I hit it I knew it was going in.

"It was a great moment to celebrate with the fans and I think we owed them that after last weekend. They were brilliant, they always are, and you could hear them over their fans. We're grateful for their support and it gives us a real boost so thank you to them. It's up there as one of my best moments.”

Pinnock admitted that Town’s players felt they needed to make amends for last week’s shock FA Cup defeat to Kettering.

"Those things happen,” he added. “Obviously none of us wanted it to happen so we knew we owed it to the fans to come out and give it 110 per cent.

"We restricted Birmingham well and I can't remember them having any big chances in the first half. Obviously they had a spell in the second half but that's going to happen when you're playing against a good team, especially after the injuries we had.

"We did ride our luck at times but if you look back at the chances we had, we could have taken the lead and I did think a goal would come. I didn't expect it to be in the last minute of the game but we kept digging in and I'm buzzing for everyone.

"Players have had to come in and play in different positions but we're going to need everyone with the injuries. Everyone wants to get on the pitch and do their bit and they did that today.

"We just had to hang in there and we got our rewards at the end."