Bolton rescued a dramatic late point in a 2-2 draw at Exeter following a rousing second half.

Bolton were in almost complete control of the first period but only had one goal to show for their efforts, Alan Sheehan pulling the ball back for Paris Maghoma to sweep in from 12 yards after 34 minutes.

Exeter levelled within 10 seconds of the restart as, from kick-off, Ben Purrington headed a Pierce Sweeney long ball into the path of Sonny Cox and he lobbed Joel Coleman from 20 yards.

Exeter went 2-1 up four minutes later when Cox was played in on goal and he lashed a stunning left-footed shot into the roof of the net.

Cox was denied a hat-trick by Coleman’s instinctive close-range save, but Bolton levelled in the 88th minute when Jack Iredale delivered a superb cross which was headed in by Eoin Toal.

Substitute Mo Eisa almost won it in stoppage time for Exeter, but his shot on the turn was superbly saved by Coleman, while Iredale was denied by an equally good save by Vili Sinisalo at the other end in a breathless finish to the match.

Swansea interim head coach Alan Sheehan was proud of his side after Liam Cullen’s last-gasp free-kick earned a 2-2 draw at Coventry.

Liam Walsh had put Swansea ahead in the seventh minute before they were pegged back by Haji Wright.

Ellis Simms then fired the Sky Blues in front before Cullen’s superb free-kick in the third minute of added time.

The point came after the Swans had been hammered 5-0 by former head coach Russell Martin and Southampton on Boxing Day.

Sheehan said: “We had to hang in there at times but how we finished the last 10-15 minutes I really liked and I think we deserved a point.

“They just kept on fighting and that’s the proudest thing I can say about them.

“We wanted a response, a lot of things have gone against us in the last couple of days in terms of the result, sickness running through the camp with a lot of lads up all night sick.

“The manner of the goals conceded is incredibly disappointing but for large amounts of the first half I saw a team that I really like watching.

“We just wanted a reaction, to draw a line under it, show how we get better, can we start building a structure? I thought for large amounts of the first half and as we went into the second you saw a real identity to what we wanted to do today.”

Swansea have been without a head coach since Michael Duff was sacked on December 4, as Sheehan took charge of his sixth match.

He added: “They’re looking for the right person. Different clubs do it different and they appoint straight away but there’s a lot of people interested in this job.

“I think it’s very important the club and board get the right person to drive this club forward.

“I’m enjoying it, it’s hard and a really difficult time in terms of travelling and time away from family, a lot of sacrifices but I believe our work has been meticulous and we at least deserved a point for that.”

Despite the last-gasp equaliser, which prevented Coventry from making it three straight wins, manager Mark Robins claimed that it was a point gained for the Sky Blues.

“You don’t gain anything until the final whistle, so we’ve gained a point,” said Robins.

“The goal was poor, the wall was not set quite right, there was too much of a gap there and he just played it through it.

“We’ve played pretty well, at times we’ve had some good moves, created good chances, took some really good chances and then just maybe a little bit more concentration sees us through.

“We didn’t have enough control in the game for the last five minutes or so, there were times in the game where we did and we started to get on top and we got our noses in front.

“We conceded the goal early on but the reply was really quick, a really incisive move and a really good finish from Haji.

“The second half was too open but then the changes that I made had an impact.

“We’re disappointed that we’ve conceded that goal. Firstly the free-kick in the first place and then letting them have the gap to hit the corner.

“It was a consequence of the weight of the pressure because we didn’t get hold of the ball in the front area which allowed them to keep picking it up and keep coming at us, so that’s frustrating.

“They’ve worked really hard, the third game in a really short space of time and we were a couple of minutes away from three points.”

Swansea manager Alan Sheehan urged his players to take confidence from a first home win since October as they edged a late 2-1 Championship victory at home to Preston.

Jamie Paterson completed his brace in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage-time to end Swansea’s run of seven home games without a win and deny North End a valuable away point after Liam Millar cancelled out Paterson’s opener.

As a result, Swansea – who have yet to appoint a permanent successor to Michael Duff – climbed four places to 15th in the table, while interim manager Sheehan has now taken seven points from five games in charge.

“We’re delighted with the win. We haven’t been good enough at home or got enough points but after the playing well and losing against Middlesbrough last time out, tonight was just about doing enough to win the game,” said Sheehan.

“We weren’t fluent with our performance by any stretch. We tried to play it through, looking for the perfect goal but it broke down each time.

“Preston are physical and try to ram it down your throat which we have to deal with. They came to make it hard for us and sometimes you’ve just got to grind it out and two moments of absolute quality from Jamie Paterson won us the game.

“We need to build confidence, resilience and a desire to win from this. When you win and have things to work on then that’s good. It wasn’t pretty but we got the job done and took a valuable three points.”

Preston continued their dramatic slide in form and slipped to ninth, with just one win from their last seven games.

They at least looked to have taken a point from their travels after substitute Millar cancelled out Paterson’s opener with a well-taken curling effort.

However Alistair McCann gave away possession inside his own half to gift Paterson the late winner.

Preston manager Ryan Lowe said: “I’m disappointed and gutted that we just couldn’t see it through to get what would have been a good point.

“I thought we were well worthy of the draw. It was a battling performance, nothing amazing and we dug in.

“We knew Swansea would dominate possession because that’s what they do but we handled their pressure well for long periods but individual errors have cost us.

“We played sideways instead of forwards for the second and left the man unmarked in the box for the first.

“It was disappointing because we had got ourselves right back in the game with a great goal and I felt we were in the ascendency.

“The players have character and effort but there were two lapses of concentration for the goals.

“I have to take responsibility as the manager, I know that and I have to lift myself first because I feel that I’m letting people down and I don’t like doing that.

“We could do with a bit of luck and to get that we need to keep working hard and digging in.”