An injury-time penalty from Chester City's Kevin Ellison damaged Hereford United's hopes of automatic promotion.
The Bulls appeared to have the match in control after first-half strikes from skipper Ben Smith and Gary Hooper, but Kevin Sandwith's spectacular goal reduced the arrears and then Ellison tied things up with almost the last kick of the match.
Hereford had a chance to open the scoring after four minutes but Hooper failed to control Clint Easton's pass and the opportunity disappeared.
Chester, however, should have opened the scoring on 11 minutes when Ellison skipped past Dean Beckwith and crossed for John Murphy. But the tall striker blazed the ball high over from a great position.
Smith, though, made no mistake on 25 minutes. The Hereford skipper found himself in space after Chester failed to clear an Easton corner and clipped a shot past John Danby and into the net.
Ellison forced a fine save from goalkeeper Wayne Brown as City tried to hit back.
But Hereford extended their lead on 35 minutes when Hooper raced on to a Sammy Igoe pass and beat Danby with a low shot from 12 yards.
Danby did, however, foil Hooper shortly afterwards, saving the on-loan striker's overhead shot after John McCombe had headed down Richard Rose's free-kick.
Hereford resisted strong Chester pressure at the start of the second period and seemed to be on their way to victory.
There appeared to be no danger when Sandwith picked the ball up 25 yards out midway through the period, but his flashing drive gave Brown no chance.
An excellent save from Danby prevented Hooper from re-establishing the two-goal lead as the striker raced on to a Smith pass.
But, three minutes into stoppage time, a Chester corner came back off the crossbar and McCombe handled the rebound.
Ellison stepped up to smash home the spot-kick and set up an intriguing end to the race for promotion.