Nigel Pearson and Scunthorpe United goalkeeping coach Kevin Pressman are good mates from their time as team-mates at Sheffield Wednesday.

But that friendship must have been tested on Saturday as Pressman's prodigy, Iron keeper Joe Murphy, denied Leicester City a comfortable win.

The Irishman produced two stunning first-half saves to keep City at bay when they looked as though they could run riot at Glanford Park, following Martyn Waghorn's third-minute strike.

Thanks to Murphy, Nigel Adkins's side were able to weather the storm and then punish City for their wastefulness in the third minute of added time when substitute Martyn Woolford fired home a heartbreaking equaliser with the last kick of the game.

Last week it was City who snatched the points with an added-time winner against Plymouth Argyle, but the boot was on the other foot on Saturday.

On the face of it, a point at Scunthorpe would not seem too disappointing as Newcastle, Sheffield United, Preston and Derby have all left Glanford Park with nothing.

They may be one of the favourites for relegation, but their home form is their lifeline and Glanford Park is a notoriously difficult place to go to.

That makes it doubly annoying for Pearson because, unlike other sides, City had adapted to the sparse surroundings and were comfortable throughout. The points really should have been wrapped up by half-time.

Scunthorpe have the worst defensive record in the Championship and it looked as if it could be a romp for City when Waghorn latched on to Jack Hobbs's ball forward and brushed off David Mirfin comfortably before slipping the ball beneath Murphy for the opening goal.

City mounted wave after wave of attacks and Yann Kermorgant, who started the game in his withdrawn striking role but was then switched to the right-hand side of midfield, should have scored his first goal for the club.

The French striker got in front of his marker to meet a Robbie Neilson cross but Murphy saved.

Still within the first 10 minutes, Matty Fryatt was picked out by Bruno Berner inside the area and he jinked past Mirfin but could not beat Murphy from an acute angle.

To say the Iron were buckling was an understatement.

The only obstacles to a City romp were Murphy and some lacklustre finishing. The former Tranmere, West Brom and Sunderland keeper produced a fantastic reaction save to scramble away a deflected Fryatt attempt which looked as if it was looping into the net, and then he spectacularly palmed away a thunderous Kermorgant bullet-header at full stretch.

Kermorgant is a fantastic header of the ball and it was technically a near-perfect effort, but Murphy looked like a man who had had enough of picking the ball out of the net recently.

United had conceded 17 times in the previous five games but City could not find a killer second goal.

The second half started in a similar fashion to the first, with Fryatt breaking clear of the static Iron defence and Waghorn was only denied a second goal by a well-timed Rob Jones block.

Waghorn fired another effort just wide from 25 yards out but after that City seemed to decide that one goal would be enough.

City have won more games by a single goal than any other team in the Championship this season, seven out of eight victories, and they looked comfortable defensively.

Scunthorpe probed for a breakthrough without much joy and City keeper Chris Weale barely had a save to make.

Reduced to pumping the ball into the box, Wayne Brown and Hobbs dealt with everything that was thrown at them and City looked as if they had done enough.

However, if you invite pressure, you always run the risk and, in the last minute of added-time, City failed to deal with a high ball into the box for the first time in the game.

Hobbs fell to the floor and then tried to clear from on the ground but only knocked the ball towards Woolford, who drove it back into the far corner beyond the desperate dives of Weale and Brown. City trudged off as if they had been beaten and it will feel like a defeat because they will know the win was there for the taking.

However, they still have the best away record in the division and can take confidence from that when they head to the City Ground next week.

City and Scunthorpe were promoted together and they could not be separated by this result but, while the Iron look destined for a long, cold winter of struggle, City can look forward to a different battle.

They just need to find a ruthless streak to kill off wounded opponents and, if they cannot find it, they may have to buy it in January.