Ruben Rodrigues’ last-gasp penalty handed 10-man Notts County a dramatic 3-2 National League victory over title-chasing Sutton.

The midfielder scored his second goal of the game deep into added time to boost the Magpies’ own play-off hopes and deny the visitors the chance to close the gap on leaders Torquay.

County had earlier taken an eighth-minute lead against the run of play when Rodrigues fired them ahead with his second goal in as many games.

However, their advantage lasted just 12 minutes when Isaac Olaofe made the most of good set-up play by strike partner Omar Bugiel to level.

The home side regained the lead three minutes after the restart when Rodrigues and Dion Kelly-Evans combined to hand Kyle Wootton a tap-in, but Sutton hit back once again when Olaofe returned the favour for Bugiel to score a 62nd-minute equaliser.

Kelly-Evans’ evening took a further turn for the worse within five minutes when he was sent off for a second bookable offence, but it was the 10 men who snatched victory four minutes into stoppage time when, after defender Mark Ellis had been felled in the box, Rodrigues converted the resulting penalty.