Brandon Njoku scores stoppage-time equaliser for 10-man Sutton against Braintree

Brandon Njoku scored a stoppage-time equaliser to earn 10-man Sutton a 1-1 draw with National League relegation-threatened rivals Braintree at the VBS Community Stadium.

Substituted on in the 81st minute, Njoku fired a shot into the top corner in the fourth minute of added time – his first goal since November – to keep Sutton outside the drop zone and above Braintree on goal difference.

Lewis Walker, who netted the winner in Saturday’s 2-1 home win over Eastleigh, looked like repeating the trick by heading in Jacob Pinnington’s cross in the 53rd minute.

That came three minutes after Sutton were reduced to 10 men when Charlie Bell was shown a red card for his challenge of George Langston.

The visitors had goalkeeper Mason Terry to thank in the first half as he made superb saves to deny Edon Pruti, Charlie Bell and Besart Topalloj.