Late drama made this clash at Throstle Nest an amazing spectacle for those present, but it robbed Celtic of three much-needed points.

Celtic, three places off the foot of UniBond Division One, belied their lowly placing by hauling fourth-placed Leek Town over the coals, but they let a 3-1 lead slip in an event-filled finale.

The promotion-seeking visitors appeared down and out in the penultimate minute, but a breathtaking end had them and their supporters almost delirious.

Celtic were stunned, even though they had a cast-iron opportunity to seal all three points when skipper Damien Henderson stepped up to take a penalty at 3-2 in the first minute of time added on.

His effort was saved and stoppage time was into its fifth minute when Leek's David McPherson shot his side level.

He immediately ran into the ranks of away fans to be engulfed before being joined by most of his team-mates - an indication of their relief.

"We threw it away," admitted Celtic boss Martin Haresign. "We were home and dry but we've not just let them off the hook. we've missed a fantastic opportunity to nail it.

"You wouldn't have known which end of the table the teams were at - it was one of those games. Under normal circumstances we would have been delighted with a point from a tough fixture, but what happened takes to edge off it.

"We are looking at it as two points dropped now. We could end up dropping into the relegation zone and after playing like that it just doesn't seam fair.

"I had taken Chris Newton off to run the clock down just before the end, but when I think back it would have been his penalty.

"But having said that I would have backed 'Hendo' to score. He is a 'confidence' player and a great man to have in your side. I'm mad at him now but he is quality.

"We will just have to look how close we pushed one of the top sides in the division and remember that if we play like that every week we will win more than we loose."

While that philosophy will serve Celtic well, it cannot take away the pain of not winning, and it will not console the men who battled for what looked an unlikely victory.

At half-time, Celtic were 2-0 up and Leek were forced to make a change in order to put a marker on debutant Gavin Bassenger. He was cutting through the visitors on the right flank and had netted one of the goals.

Just before the half-hour, Henderson put his side into a deserved lead when he ran onto a poor back-header that left Leek keeper Kevin Welsby stranded. Five minutes later Bassenger steered a shot across Welsby into the far corner.

The visitors got a lifeline in the 56th minute when Frank-Mitchel M'Fomo burst through the Celtic defence and squeezed a shot under Liam Sutcliffe. Liam Gray hit the foot of Welsby's post as Celtic came back before Henderson made it 3-1 in the 72nd minute with an angled drive.

It was not until the 90th minute that Leek scored again, Martin Ridley rifling in a low shot, and it appeared too little too late as from the re-start Gray was brought down in Leek's area. Henderson thumped the spot kick low, but Welsby made a great dive to his left to save.

In the fifth minute of injury time, McPherson turned in a ten-yard shot to complete an amazing comeback.