A Dean Carroll goal six minutes into injury time salvaged a point for Magheraveely against Killen Rangers, and maintained their good run of form as they continue to pull away from the relegation zone in Division One.

Victory for Killen would have taken them to within a point of league leaders Tummery Athletic.

And it seemed as though they were on course for all three points when Graham Young fired them ahead after an hour, but Magheraveely snatched a last gasp equaliser to claim a share of the spoils.

The draw means Magheraveely have only suffered defeat once in their last five games, and manager Keith Douglas was pleased to see his side fight back after losing a succession of games by a single goal earlier in the campaign.

“Before the Christmas break there were only two games we had lost by more than one goal, and we know if we can turn those games into draws it will help us to stay in the division.

“That is the way Saturday was,” he said: “Killen were the better team in the first half. They have plenty of experience and they played well, but their goal was poor defending from us.

“They worked the ball too easily from the wing and the shot from outside the box caught us out.

“We pulled our socks up and got at them from then on, and we were always pushing towards getting that equalising goal.

“There were probably other games we lost at the start of the season where we didn’t deserve to get beaten, and Killen might feel aggrieved they didn’t come away with all three points, but it was one of those games. It keeps our wee run going.”

Close contest

Killen edged a closely contested first half where defences were on top and goal scoring opportunities few and far between, but as the match progressed Killen ramped up the pressure.

They lost goalkeeper Alan Buchanan to injury early in the second period, but continued to press forward and were rewarded 17 minutes into the second half when Young fired a low shot from the edge of the area into the corner of the net past Corey Smith.

Magheraveely responded well to the setback and Andy Little, Dean Farrell and Paul Elliott all had chances to draw their side level before they finally made the breakthrough in added time.

Little started the move, driving at Killen and evading several challenges before sending Gary Elliott clear on the wing.

His cross to the back post was headed past the stand-in goalkeeper by Carroll for his tenth league goal of the campaign.

Magheraveely’s tough run of matches continue with a match against Enniskillen Rangers this Saturday, followed by games against Enniskillen Town and Tummery.