Northampton’s battling 10 men rescued a 1-1 draw at Mansfield when Marc Richards put away a penalty late in stoppage time.

The Cobblers lost John-Joe O’Toole to a straight red card 36 minutes in after he floored Ritchie Sutton in the home six-yard box during an ill-tempered first half. And it seemed the injury-hit home side had done enough to get three vital points when Vadaine Oliver poked them ahead just after the interval.

But the Stags rarely looked like adding to that tally as the 10 men Cobblers did all the pressing, their reward coming late on after Junior Brown brought down substitute Ivan Toney and Richards drilled the spot-kick coolly home down the centre.

Northampton had more of the ball in the first 15 minutes and goalkeeper Lenny Pidgeley had to block a shot from Ricky Holmes, who put his follow-up into the side-netting. But Mansfield began to warm to their task in an increasingly frenetic first half and Simon Heslop’s 31st-minute free-kick clipped the top of the bar while, two minutes later, Oliver fired a low shot across the face of goal and inches wide.

Mansfield were ahead within three minutes of the restart as Northampton allowed a long Lee Beevers free-kick to reach Oliver at the far post where he stabbed home his sixth of the season. The Cobblers almost levelled shortly afterwards as Jason Taylor headed against the bar from a Lawson D’Ath corner.

Ryan Tafazolli also had to maker a great block to deny Lawson D’Ath. Four minutes from time Pidgeley made a great save to his left to keep out an Evan Horwood free-kick, but Northampton’s equaliser sent the away fans into a frenzy at the end of a game that saw nine yellow cards and one red.