RONAN CURTIS and Stephen McLaughlin scored for Portsmouth and Southend United In League One tonight – but neither was on the winning side.
Ronan Curtis (pictured) netted for Portsmouth, who needed a late Brett Pitman penalty to earn a dramatic draw with Burton at Fratton Park.
Joe Sbarra and Kieran Wallace had Burton 2-0 up. Sbarra tucked in after just six minutes and Wallace’s attempt from distance took a deflection and flew beyond Craig MacGillivray to leave the home side stunned.
Burton had John-Joe O’Toole sent off for two quick fire yellow cards and Curtis gave Pompey hope six minutes before the break.
The St Johnston man hammered to the roof of the net from close range.
Just last week, Curtis made his full debut for the Republic of Ireland in the friendly win over Bulgaria.
Curtis was heavily involved in the second half and had one good effort saved by Kieran O’Hara – who also played for Ireland last Tuesday at Aviva Stadium.
Pitman drilled past O’Hara right at the death to earn Portsmouth a point.
Stephen McLaughlin was on target for Southend United, but they lost a League One thriller 4-3 to Shrewsbury at New Meadow.
McLaughlin scored just before the half-hour.
By that stage, they were two down as Omar Beckles and Jason Cummings netted for Shrewsbury.
Inishowen man McLaughlin headed in from Elvis Bwomono’s cross to reduce the arrears.
Ollie Norburn restored the two-goal cushion only for Stephen Humphrys to respond.
Callum Lang made it 4-2 and while Simon Cox grabbed a third for Southend, they fell to a seventh loss in eight games.
Conrad Logan was in goal for Mansfield, but they shipped a heavy 4-0 loss to Cambridge United at Field Mill.
Cambridge struck all four goals from the 74th minute, with three of them arriving beyond the 85th minute as Jack Roles, Sam Smith, George Maris and Reggie Lambe, from a penalty gave Cambridge the win.
Mansfield had Matt Preston sent off in the 49th minute.
A last-minute James Jones goal saw Crewe defeat Leyton Orient in League Two. Dale Gorman started for Orient, who saw Jordan Maguire-Drew level things after Eddie Nolan put Crewe in front at Brisbane Road.