Bath City 1-1 Luton Town
Last updated on .From the section National League
Luton Town hit the top of the Blue Square Bet Premier despite being held to a 1-1 draw by nine-man Bath City.
Bath found themselves a man down late in the first half when Charlie Clough was sent off for a foul on Amari Morgan-Smith - his second yellow card.
The Hatters cashed in when Morgan-Smith found the bottom corner to put his side in front on the stroke of half-time.
But Lee Phillips levelled with a low shot before Bath had Paul Stonehouse dismissed too, also a second yellow.
The Hatters went into the game against bottom club Bath just one point adrift of Gateshead, who lost at Lincoln.
The visitors' desperation to move to the summit was evident as they bossed the opening stages, with Amari Morgan-Smith firing just wide early on.
Bath more than holding their own until the 40th minute when Clough was sent off. And, making full use of their one-man advantage, Luton took the lead when Morgan-Smith was on hand to tap home the rebound after Stuart Fleetwood's 25-yard effort hit the post.
Surprisingly, the Hatters opted for a conservative approach in the second period and paid the price when Phillips levelled things up.
Ben Swallow was the orchestrator, sending in a lovely left-wing centre which the striker duly converted.
That was enough to earn City - who also had Stonehouse sent off late on - a point, although Gary Brabin's side still moved to the top of the pile on goal difference.
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Bath City striker Lee Phillips told BBC Radio Bristol:
"It was a really important point.
"We haven't been despondent in the way we've been playing this season, we've been playing very well but we haven't had the rub of the green.
"The goals have been lacking and we've been slack defensively but I feel tonight we've turned a corner."
Luton Town manager Gary Brabin told BBC Three Counties Radio:
"I'm disappointed, I thought we did enough to win it.
"There were a couple of decisions - I think it took a while before the referee started to caution the opposition.
"I said at half-time I was worried about taking our foot off the gas, and that they are going to roll their sleeves up and fight 10 times harder, and that was the case."
