Sam Hoskins talks through his dramatic equalising goal against Lincoln City

Sam Hoskins has talked through his thought process as the ball was dropping to him inside the penalty box eight minutes into stoppage-time during Tuesday’s dramatic 2-2 draw against Lincoln City.

Town’s captain for the night delivered another magic moment and added to his increasingly impressive highlights reel when volleying home a last-gasp – but thoroughly deserved – equaliser at Sixfields.

"We were piling a lot of pressure on and I quite like hanging around the edge of the box for situations like that because I've scored a few of those over the years,” explained Hoskins. "I tried to pick up that position a few times tonight but nothing was really falling for me, but then it did at the end and luckily I managed to put it away.

"We've noticed that a lot of our shots have been blocked, it happened on Saturday and especially tonight, so defenders are putting their bodies on the line. I had a couple myself that maybe last season would have found the net.

"At the end it fell for me and I was just focused on keeping it down, keeping it on target and hoping it finds the net. Fortunately it did!”

A point was the bare minimum the Cobblers deserved for a dominant performance at Sixfields. Lincoln led 2-0 through Reeco Hackett-Fairchild and Paudie O’Connor but Louis Appéré’s smart finish was followed by a dramatic finale.

Hoskins added: "We were unlucky to be 2-0 down so late on because we played some great football, as we did on Saturday and in the first half in the first game of the season. We're now doing it for prolonged periods and to get a point in the fashion we did shows a lot about our team spirit, but we deserved to win.

"But when you're 2-0 down with five minutes to play, you'll always take a draw. It almost feels like a win because it was so late in the day. We can take a lot of confidence from it and push on. We're showing we can compete against the best teams at this level.

"It feels brilliant to take the point and it's a massive boost for us. It was nothing less than we deserved."