Fulham loanee Kieron Bowie was playing through pain and came close to being taken off before scoring his late leveller against Carlisle United

Kieron Bowie played through the pain barrier and was close to being substituted shortly before scoring his last-gasp equaliser in Saturday’s stirring 2-2 draw with Carlisle United.

The 21-year-old forward, currently on loan at Cobblers from Premier League Fulham, suffered a dead leg in the very first minute of the game at Brunton Park but battled on and did so to great effect as he contributed to both Town goals.

He did brilliantly to release Shaun McWilliams for the opener on 30 minutes and then popped up with a dramatic late leveller three minutes into stoppage-time, connecting sweetly with Patrick Brough’s cross to drill a shot low and hard through Carlisle goalkeeper Tomas Holy.

"I got a dead leg literally in the first minute of the game and I was hobbling about for the rest of the match,” said Bowie afterwards. “I was glad to stay on the pitch and play my part.

"I honestly can't remember too much about the goal. I was knackered and I think I was supposed to come off a few minutes before but I was like 'no, I want to stay on' and I'm glad I did!

"I was just sort of hanging out at the back post and I saw the ball come across towards me. About three people must have missed it and it just fell to me. I was speaking to Rico before the game and he was saying not to hit them too hard but I smashed that one right into the corner.

"I went back across the goal and the goalkeeper dived but it went through his legs. I'm just glad it went in and we got a point in the end after being 2-1 down. We’ll definitely take it after how the game went.

"It means a lot to see nearly 400 fans spend their money and come all the way up here to support us. I’m so pleased I was able to give them something to celebrate at the end.

"We have a great bunch of players and we never give up – we always fight to the end. I think club wants to become an established League One club and hopefully we can start to do that this season.”