It started perfectly. After 67 seconds, a sweeping cross from the left flashed across the face of goal, Will Alves cut it back from the far post, and Sammy Braybrooke, recalled to the side, stroked it home from close range. It was his first senior goal for the club.

Leicester should have been out of sight. Emil Riis hit the post on eight minutes, and John Lundstram, back from suspension and wearing the armband, saw a fierce shot tipped over by Tommy Setford.

Then on 22 minutes, Alex McCarthy collided with his own centre-half Caleb Okoli as a cross came in and fumbled it. Ben Broggio was on it in a flash and scored from point-blank range. It was a goal against the run of play, and Stevenage had beaten Leicester 2-1 in the Football League Trophy earlier this month. The visitors knew how to hurt them.

Leicester spent the rest of the half laying siege. There were six corners in eight minutes, Riis had a header saved, Harry Souttar put one wide from close range, and Warren O'Hora headed wide in stoppage time. It stayed 1-1.

The second half followed the same pattern. Lundstram skied one from the edge after Braybrooke squared it, Kamari Doyle was blocked, and Setford tipped over another stunning strike from Riis. Russell Martin took off Lundstram for Will Smallbone on the hour.

The breakthrough came on 66 minutes. Setford could only turn Alves's shot into Doyle's path, and he pounced inside the box to make it 2-1.

Alex Revell's response was to change his front line. Chem Campbell, Michael Mellon and Matt Smith came on, and on 76 minutes so did Tugra Turhan for Broggio. Two minutes later the teenager, on loan from Istanbul Basaksehir and making his league debut, combined with fellow substitute Campbell and drove an angled shot into the bottom corner. Stevenage were level again.

Martin had already sent on Wes Burns and Conor Chaplin, and Liam Cullen followed. Luke Thomas went closest on 85 minutes, a left-footed shot from Braybrooke's pass that flew just wide, and in the fifth minute of stoppage time Phoenix Patterson had a shot blocked at the other end.

The numbers tell the story of Leicester's afternoon: 17 shots to eight, 11 corners to two, two-thirds of the possession. Setford made five saves. McCarthy made two, and dropped the one that mattered.

Martin had said before the game that his side were "not in the position we want to be in". A point against Stevenage, from two winning positions at home, won't change that, and he did not hide from it.

Alex Revell, short of players, was proud of the point and joked he would fine Turhan for celebrating with a somersault because "we've got enough injuries as it is".

Stockport had the ball for long spells before the break. They had 71 per cent of it by the finish, more than 700 passes, and ten corners. In the first half, though, it was all knocking on the door. Kyle Wootton headed wide in the seventh minute and fired just past the post from distance on 21, and Jack Diamond and Lewis Fiorini both had shots blocked in a crowded box. Wimbledon's back five held firm, and their best moment came when Jayden Stockley's header from James Tilley's cross forced a save from Oliver Whatmuff.

Johnnie Jackson's side struck first after the restart. Two minutes into the second half Harry Cornick crossed, and Stockley headed it into the top corner. For a spell they looked the likelier side to score again. Alistair Smith and Ryan Johnson both went close, and Whatmuff had to save from Tilley at close range on the hour.

Jimmy McNulty had already gone to his bench. Oliver Norwood and Josh Dacres-Cogley made way for Jason Adigun and Mikael Mandron on 56 minutes, and Mandron changed the game.

On 64 minutes Mandron laid it off for Diamond, and his right-footed shot from outside the box went low into the bottom left corner. Stockport smelled it now. Ten minutes later, a minute after Mandron had won a free-kick on the left, Diamond crossed, Steve Seddon cut it out in front of Bursik, and Ethan Ennis tapped in the loose ball. It was his first goal for the club.

Wimbledon had their chances to take something. Aron Sasu tested Whatmuff from distance, and in the 86th minute substitute Callum Maycock shot from the middle of the box and was denied again by the Stockport keeper. Adigun almost added a third in stoppage time, but Josef Bursik saved it.

Stockport had only three shots on target, two fewer than Wimbledon, and scored with two of them. That's not the most convincing way to win, but it works. They needed this one after losing at Oxford on Tuesday. It keeps them second, two points behind Huddersfield. It was a fourth straight home league win, too. For Wimbledon there's another defeat, seven league games without a win, and a familiar problem: only nine goals in 13 league games.

McNulty admitted the first half should have settled it.

Johnnie Jackson thought his side had the game where they wanted it.