Reece Cole’s stunning stoppage-time winner earned Exeter City a superb 2-1 win over Reading at St James Park.

Exeter dominated the first half, with Dion Rankine firing into the side netting early on and Tom Carroll shooting narrowly wide.

Zak Jules, Demetri Mitchell and Carroll all went close for sprightly Exeter, who almost led when Jack Aitchison struck the post after good work by debutant Ilmari Niskanen before Ryan Trevitt was denied by a superb save by David Button.

The goal Exeter deserved duly arrived from captain Will Aimson, who deftly headed Carroll’s cross into the net after 34 minutes.

Reading grabbed an equaliser against the run of play deep into first-half stoppage time when Harvey Knibbs took advantage of Pierce Sweeney’s unfortunate slip to level things up.

Reading were much improved after the break and almost when in front but Femi Azeri struck the post and then missed a great chance moments later by dragging his shot wide of the post.

Both sides pushed for the winner and it came in the 93rd minute as substitute Cole lashed the ball in from 20 yards from Sam Nombe’s knock-down.

Stevenage and Portsmouth both had a player sent off during an entertaining 0-0 draw at the Lamex Stadium.

Pompey’s Joe Rafferty and Boro’s Jake Forster-Caskey were shown red cards by referee Simon Mather when a 50-50 challenge turned into a skirmish on the floor during the second half of the League One clash.

Jamie Reid’s header forced an outstanding save from Will Norris early on.

Alex MacDonald’s delivery should have led to the opening goal, but Aaron Pressley’s limp shot from close range went over.

Abu Kamara fired a powerful attempt straight down the throat of Taye Ashby-Hammond before Boro’s Jordan Roberts hit the post from outside the box.

Rafferty and Forster-Caskey were sent off at the start of an eventful second half.

Substitute Elliott List found Roberts in the box with five minutes left to play, but the forward could not find the net.

Referee Mather was forced off the field with an injury and replaced by fourth official Stephen Finch in the closing stages.

However, neither side could find the back of the net as the match finished 0-0.

Former Bristol City defender Joe Low played the role of local villain to perfection to put Wycombe on course for a 2-1 victory over lacklustre Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium.

The 21-year-old centre-back put the Chairboys ahead after 19 minutes when he rose unchallenged to powerfully nod in Luke Leahy’s free-kick, only to be booked for goading the home fans who greeted his celebrations with disdain.

Low, whose father Josh started his career at Rovers, then excelled on the defensive front to frustrate Joey Barton’s side who lacked direction but almost equalised after 43 minutes when striker Jevani Brown struck a post from close range.

In contrast, Wanderers attacked with purpose and Leahy twice went close to doubling the lead from long range against his old club but Rovers keeper Matt Cox pulled off excellent saves to deny the midfield playmaker.

Wanderers suffered a setback when Dale Taylor was carried off on a stretcher following a heavy challenge.

But Matt Bloomfield’s visitors stood firm and went further ahead thanks to substitute Garath McCleary’s clever finish after 74 minutes.

Chelsea loanee Harvey Vale, 19, gave Rovers hope with a deft strike in the 84th minute shortly after appearing as a substitute.

But Low led the Wycombe resistance and his desperate stoppage-time block to divert Tristan Crama’s shot wide ensured a victorious return to Bristol.

Hat-trick hero Martyn Waghorn starred in a stunning Derby comeback as they roared to a 4-2 win at Peterborough.

The Rams found themselves trailing in the 23rd minute after a Posh opener from a move started and finished by Jonson Clarke-Harris.

But it was one-way traffic from then on as the visitors went on an almighty attacking raid – scoring four times in 16 minutes against a Posh side who had only previously conceded twice all season.

Their charge was spearheaded by veteran forward Waghorn, who levelled with a coolly-taken volley from a Liam Thompson cross in the 29th minute before Eirin Cashin completed the turnaround with a 37th-minute header from ex-Posh man Nathaniel Mendez-Laing’s delivery.

Waghorn, who returned to Derby for a second spell in the summer, then poked in a Mendez-Laing shot in the 40th minute to extend the advantage.

And the 33-year-old completed a fifth career hat-trick with his fifth goal of the current season – a classy curler on the stroke of half-time.

A miserable afternoon for Posh boss Darren Ferguson was compounded when he was sent off by referee Lewis Smith with 20 minutes to go.

Kwame Poku then bagged a 90th-minute consolation for the hosts.

Tyler Goodrham struck early and late to earn Oxford a 2-1 victory over Charlton and their fourth straight win.

The youngster, who only turned 20 this month, had also scored in the U’s last outing, a 3-1 triumph at Barnsley.

In the 10th minute he raced through the middle and hammered an unstoppable 20-yard drive past goalkeeper Harry Isted to fire the home side in front.

The Addicks rallied well, however, to boss large spells of the second half.

Alfie May equalised in the 63rd minute, lashing home his second goal of the season with a fierce low shot following good work from substitute Chem Campbell and hesitation in the home defence.

Substitute Stan Mills set up Oxford’s winner five minutes from time, squeezing Ruben Rodrigues’ right-wing cross through to Goodrham who knocked the ball past Isted with panache.

In a lively start to the game, Charlton went close through Nathan Asiimwe, who saw his powerful drive beaten out, and May, who forced goalkeeper James Beadle into a smothering save.

There was a threat every time Oxford went forward in the early stages, with Billy Bodin and Mark Harris firing over either side of Goodrham’s goal.

In a game riddled with free kicks, the Addicks had six players yellow-carded as well as a member of Dean Holden’s backroom staff.

James Wilson’s second-half penalty handed improving Port Vale a hard-earned 1-0 victory against Carlisle.

Andy Crosby’s side have now won three and drawn one since their opening-day hammering at Barnsley.

Carlisle, meanwhile, remain winless this term after promotion via the play-offs in May.

The hosts bossed the early stages, with Nathan Smith and Wilson both going close.

Eventually Carlisle replied, with Owen Moxon firing just over the top following Callum Guy’s smart pass.

Guy himself went close soon after, with his terrific strike from distance being superbly beaten out by Vale keeper Connor Ripley.

Vale thought they had scored shortly before the interval but Ethan Chislett was thwarted by an assistant referee’s flag.

The hosts did strike shortly after the restart, from the penalty spot. Carlisle keeper Jokull Andresson tugged back Chislett in the box, leaving Wilson to coolly slot home from the spot.

The lead was almost doubled soon after when Alex Iacovitti lashed a shot just over.

Carlisle almost levelled when Sean Maguire headed Jack Armer’s cross inches wide.

Nine-man Fleetwood’s dismal start to the season continued with a 1-0 defeat at home to Shrewsbury.

The hosts started well and their best opportunity came when the ball reached Junior Quitirna, whose and his acrobatic kick hit the post before being cleared off the line.

But, they came to rue their missed chances when Shrewsbury took the lead with their first shot of the game.

A mistake from Scott Robertson put Daniel Udoh one-on-one and he easily scored.

Before half-time Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch was shown a red card for bringing down Ryan Bowman.

After the break, Salop made the most of the extra man with Carl Winchester driving into the box from out wide to force a save from substitute goalkeeper Stephen McMullan.

However, Fleetwood responded when Jack Marriott poked a cross into the back of the net but the flag was up for offside.

The Cod Army continued to push but then lost Josh Earl late on to another red card in stoppage time.

Two penalties and a deflected strike earned Lincoln a commanding 3-0 win over 10-man Blackpool at the LNER Stadium and moved them up to fourth in Sky Bet League One.

Daniel Mandroui opened the scoring from the spot inside seven minutes after Ben House was brought down in the Blackpool area.

Goalkeeper Lukas Jensen saved from Seasiders debutant Jordan Rhodes when he was through one-on-one and as the rebound fell to CJ Hamilton, the winger could only volley over with the goal gaping.

Five minutes before the break, Ethan Erhahon doubled his side’s advantage. He travelled to the edge of the visitors box and saw his shot flick off Marvin Ekpiteta’s legs before nestling into the far corner.

Oliver Norburn was given his marching orders with 17 minutes to play after fouling House in front of an open goal.

Substitute Teddy Bishop slammed home the resulting penalty to seal the points and extend the Imps’ unbeaten run to four, with Blackpool winless in the league since opening day.

Burton and Bolton had to settle for a point apiece as goals from Mark Helm and Dion Charles cancelled each other out in a 1-1 draw at the Pirelli Stadium.

Helm put Burton ahead soon after half-time before Bolton, looking to get back to winning ways after their 4-0 home defeat to Wigan last time out, equalised through Charles just before the hour.

Albion had the clearest opening of the first half when winger Bobby Kamwa took advantage of some poor Bolton defending to run through and round goalkeeper Nathan Baxter only for his effort to hit the post.

Kamwa also fired wide from the edge of the box as Wanderers made a nervy start but the visitors grew into the game and both Randell Williams and Charles forced good saves from Max Crocombe in the Brewers goal.

The second half could not have started any better for Burton with Helm firing home a minute after the break when the Wanderers defence failed to deal with Kamwa’s cross.

However, Bolton were level just before the hour when Charles pounced on indecisive Burton defending on the edge of the box to score.

Crocombe made an outstanding save to deny former Burton striker Victor Adeboyejo as Bolton pushed for all three points but neither side could find a winner in a pulsating encounter.

Barnsley picked up a first victory since the opening day of the season with a clinical performance away at Wigan.

After a competitive start, the hosts were dealt a huge blow when Charlie Hughes was shown red on 21 minutes.

The 19-year-old was adjudged to have fouled Barnsley frontman Devante Cole, who was bearing down on goal.

And it did not take long for the visitors to take advantage, with Cole latching onto Barry Cotter’s cross from the right to tuck home on 26 minutes.

Wigan had strong shouts for a penalty four minutes after the restart, when Stephen Humphrys was brought down in the area.

But Barnsley should have doubled their lead 20 minutes from time, when new signing John McAtee missed an open goal after a mistake from keeper Sam Tickle before striking the post soon after.

It took a huge save from Liam Roberts to deny Callum Lang an equaliser 11 minutes from the end but McAtee made the result safe when tucking home in added time.

Two penalties and a deflected strike earned Lincoln a commanding 3-0 win over 10-man Blackpool at the LNER Stadium and moved them up to second in Sky Bet League One.

Daniel Mandroui opened the scoring from the spot inside seven minutes after Ben House was brought down in the Blackpool area.

Goalkeeper Lukas Jensen saved from Seasiders debutant Jordan Rhodes when he was through one-on-one and as the rebound fell to CJ Hamilton, the winger could only volley over with the goal gaping.

Five minutes before the break, Ethan Erhahon doubled his side’s advantage. He travelled to the edge of the visitors box and saw his shot flick off Marvin Ekpiteta’s legs before nestling into the far corner.

Oliver Norburn was given his marching orders with 17 minutes to play after fouling House in front of an open goal.

Substitute Teddy Bishop slammed home the resulting penalty to seal the points and extend the Imps’ unbeaten run to four, with Blackpool winless in the league since opening day.

A fan had to come out of the crowd to take over as assistant referee as Portsmouth were held to a goalless draw by Cheltenham.

The Robins produced a stubborn defensive display at Fratton Park to pick up their first point of the season.

But it was the officials who stole the limelight when not one but two assistant referees limped off through injury.

Fourth official Stephen Brown took over in the first half, but he then had to be replaced early in the second as an appeal was issued for a qualified referee to volunteer, leading to 21 minutes of stoppage time.

Cheltenham arrived without a win or a goal to their name and it showed, with no shots on targets in the opening half.

Pompey struggled to break down a five-man defence and their two chances of note were in the seventh minute, when a Connor Ogilvie shot flew wide, and an 11th-minute effort from Joe Rafferty, whose shot from outside the box was saved by Luke Southwood.

Pompey came out fighting in the second half and Regan Poole thought he had scored with a header, but the ball hit a post and flew straight into the goalkeeper’s arms.

Not even the lengthy period of stoppage time could produce a goal.

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell has high hopes for Ryan Trevitt after his goal set up a 2-0 win over Carlisle.

Trevitt and Demetri Mitchell sealed the points to make a long trip north worth the effort, following a midweek defeat at Portsmouth.

“It was a fantastic result after a really difficult week,” said Caldwell. “We had to recover well after Tuesday night and after everyone’s really hard efforts we thankfully got the result here today.

“After the first 15 minutes of the second half we looked the stronger team. The substitutes gave us a real attacking threat. It was a big team effort and I have to thank everyone at the club who contributed today.”

Trevitt opened the scoring on 70 minutes with his first professional goal and Caldwell was full of praise for the Brentford loanee.

“Ryan’s been brilliant since he joined the club and I can see him scoring a lot more goals between now and the end of the season,” he said.

“He’s got a brilliant knack of finding the corner. It was a brilliant finish.”

Exeter kept their third clean sheet of the season against Carlisle.

“We’ve been very good defensively,” Caldwell said.

“It was a big question mark in pre-season and in fairness the whole team have worked hard on defending set-pieces and working hard off the ball. That allows you to make moments to go and win the game and when we got our two moments, we took them.”

Paul Simpson believes his Carlisle side are not too far away from where he would like despite the result.

“I thought there was a lot of good things today. We had good controlled possession and worked their keeper well,” he said.

“My over-riding thought is that we’re not too far away now. But that’s also a frustration.”

Carlisle were on top in spells of the game and Simpson rues the chances his side missed.

“When we’re on a good spell that first goal is all important,” he said. “There were opportunities to get crosses in and we hit the first man and that’s where the real frustration lies.

“We do know the importance of scoring the first goal when we’ve had the chances. We’ve had the corners. We overloaded the near post with good deliveries but fine margins and we didn’t get on the end of those good balls.”

Goalscorer Mitchell was on a yellow card when he fouled Fin Back in the first half but Simpson was coy about the decision not to send the Exeter man off.

“If he hadn’t been on a yellow, it might have been given but I don’t like seeing players sent off,” he said.

“It’s not why we lost today so I would be clutching at straws if I were to claim that cost us the game today.”

Lincoln boss Mark Kennedy claimed Shrewsbury were the better team after Ethan Hamilton earned the Imps a 1-0 victory.

The recent signing from Accrington struck his first goal for the club to stretch their unbeaten league run to three games.

Shrewsbury were the more dominant of the two sides and went close to breaking the deadlock on the half-hour mark.

Dan Udoh played a creative ball over the top to Taylor Perry, who cut inside and darted into the box but Lukas Jensen blocked his close-range effort.

The travelling side grabbed a late win after new-boy Hamilton tucked away from inside the area in the 79th minute to get his first goal in a Lincoln shirt.

Kennedy said: “It wasn’t a brilliant performance by us. For those that were not here it was really tough conditions, like incredibly windy and blustery, and it was really tough for both teams.

“Where I was really pleased was our grit, determination, togetherness and unity, especially of the back of Tuesday, which was so nearly a really good performance.

“But unfortunately, because they scored two late goals, you then get loads of questions which I get but to respond like that with a clean sheet which is three in five games.

“Strikers win games – they say – and defenders win titles which we are some way away from that – to make clear – but my point is that clean sheets are so important.

“I thought they were the better side but if you look at the chances, they have had two shots on target, and we only had three, but Lukas (Jensen) had a quiet afternoon as you get.

“The one chance that they did have was huge. I wouldn’t say it was a game changer because it was so early.”

Shrewsbury boss Matt Taylor said: “It’s a disappointing result but our first-half performance was good.

“We weren’t ruthless enough and when you are on top in this league, and in any league really, you have got to score.

“We missed too many good chances where we made the wrong decision too often in their box.

“And when you do that, and you don’t score when the momentum is with you, then you always risk this type of result.

“Speaking to the players at half-time, I wanted them to win the half out of possession and we didn’t do that.

“When you also play against teams of Lincoln’s quality, and you look at the 1-0 wins they got away from home last season, we always knew that whoever scored that first goal would win.

“To go in at half-time 0-0 with the chances we created and how comfortable we were in possession, I was really disappointed but ultimately we have not taken our chances.”

John Mousinho admitted Portsmouth’s goalless draw at home to winless Cheltenham could have been called off after a fan had to come out of the stands to run the line after two officials hobbled off injured.

The Robins produced a stubborn defensive display to pick up their first point of the season but it was the officials who stole the limelight when not one but two assistant referees limped off.

Fourth official Stephen Brown took over in the first half, but then he had to be replaced early in the second as an appeal was made for a qualified referee to volunteer, leading to 21 minutes of stoppage time.

Mousinho said: “I thought there was a chance the game could be called off because nobody knew what the affiliation of the fan who took over was.

“I was happy because he came down from our South Stand, so fair play to Cheltenham because they could have refused to play on.

“We were not quite on our game and it was a good opportunity for them to secure a point, which they did.

“Putting the game into words, up until the final third we were totally dominant.

“I don’t think we did quite enough to win the game, and we must start breaking these teams down. They come and play a certain way, which is frustrating, but we must overcome that.”

Cheltenham arrived without a win or a goal to their name and it showed, with no shots on targets in the opening half.

Pompey struggled to break down a five-man defence, and their two chances of note were in the seventh minute when a Connor Ogilvie shot flew wide, and an 11th-minute long-range effort from Joe Rafferty, saved by Luke Southwood.

Pompey came out fighting in the second half and Regan Poole thought he had scored with a header, but the ball hit a post and flew straight into goalkeeper Southwood’s arms.

Not even the lengthy stoppage-time period could produce a goal.

Cheltenham boss Wade Elliott said: “It was an outstanding performance from the team today.

“Over the past three or four seasons, a Cheltenham performance would be seen as gritty, organised, charismatic, one that carried a threat, and I thought we were all those things today.”

“I am very pleased that we are going home with a point.

“You could see that everybody played their part. There’s a spirit and camaraderie. There’s some tired bodies with wounds, limps and strains. It’s a tough league, and it’s been a tough start, with Saturday and midweek games.

“It will be nice to not have a game until next Saturday, which will give the players time to recover.”

“I thought the substitute assistant was the best we’ve had.”