Plymouth manager Ryan Lowe was left fuming by the award of Lincoln’s late penalty in his side’s 2-2 draw at the LNER Stadium.

The Pilgrims led twice thanks to goals from Ryan Hardie and Brendan Galloway.

Lasse Sorensen levelled for the Imps for the first time after 66 minutes, but Argyle looked set to take all three points back to Devon.

That was until Sorensen was adjudged to have been fouled in the box and Anthony Scully converted the penalty in the final minute of normal time.

Lowe was adamant that the foul occurred outside the box.

“It’s outside the box. It’s a foul, but I think he buys it. He throws himself into the penalty box,” Lowe said.

“I’m not criticising the player, I’m not criticising anyone, but when you come to a place like Lincoln you can’t get those decisions wrong.

“I’m disappointed but I’m pleased with how the lads played, how we opened them up. Their keeper made some fantastic saves.”

Lowe felt his side – and Hardie in particularly – should have scored more than once in the first half.

“We could have been 3-0 up at half-time. Ryan always seems to score the hardest goals,” he added. “I said to him, if you want to score 20 goals then you’ve got to put that other chance away. He knows that.

“It’s not criticism towards Ryan because he’s been fantastic, but they are the small margins when you come away to the likes of Lincoln. If you put those chances in, the game’s done and dusted.

“I’m really pleased with the effort, the commitment, the patterns and how we played.

“They are a good team who play some good football, but I definitely thought our lads deserved the victory.”

Opposite number Michael Appleton praised his side’s spirit, which he had questioned following Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at Morecambe.

The Imps salvaged a draw despite losing key players Liam Bridcutt and Regan Poole to injury during the game.

“A lot of things transpired against us. For us to show the spirit we showed in the second half was pleasing,” said Appleton.

“Ironically, I didn’t think our performance with the ball was as good as it was on Tuesday night, yet we showed the spirit you need to win a game of football.

“The message at half-time was to show a bit of personality and character. If things go against you, they go against you, but don’t take a backward step. Keep stepping forward, keep trying to be aggressive in your approach, and we did that.

“We put a bit of quality into the box at times and their keeper made a couple of good blocks.

“We just asked the question, which was something we didn’t do in the first half.

“We were a bit lame in front of goal in the first half and on Tuesday, so it was nice to see us being aggressive in the opposition’s box.”