There are afternoons when a single point feels like a trophy, and this was one of them for Bologna. Rooted to the wrong end of the table, twice chasing a game that kept slipping from their grasp, they were seconds from a demoralising loss when Artem Dovbyk struck in the first minute of stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 draw at the Renato Dall'Ara.

The Ukrainian's left-footed finish from the centre of the box, tucked into the bottom right corner, sent a fraught, restless crowd into a roar of pure relief. It was scarcely deserved on the balance of a chaotic contest, but Bologna had thrown enough at Sassuolo late on to earn their reward. For a side that had lost twice in three and scored only twice all season, this was a lifeline seized at the last.

Sassuolo, for their part, will be gnawing at the memory of a lead surrendered twice over. Vasilije Adzic and Josh Doig had put them in commanding positions, only for the visitors to concede a corner routine and then, fatally, hold too deep a line as the clock ran down. A win would have lifted them handsomely; instead they trudged away with a point that felt like a loss.

Doig sets the tone

Sassuolo drew first blood, and they did it on the counter. In the 19th minute a fast break sliced Bologna open and Josh Doig arrived in the centre of the box to lash a left-footed shot into the bottom left corner. It was a full-back's goal born of ambition, the kind of forward surge that catches a nervy home side flat-footed, and it silenced the Dall'Ara.

The lead suited the visitors. Compact, sharp in transition and content to let Bologna probe without penetration, Sassuolo carried the calm of a team that had already won once this campaign and understood how to protect an advantage. Bologna, by contrast, wore the anxiety of their league position, their attacks growing more urgent but no more incisive as the first half wore on.

At the interval the numbers told a bleak story for the hosts: bottom-third form, two goals in three matches, and a crowd shifting uneasily in its seats. Something had to change, and it did the moment the second half began.

A game turned twice

Five minutes after the restart, Bologna were level. Juan Miranda swung in a cross following a corner and Roberto Piccoli rose in the middle of the box to plant a header into the bottom right corner. It was a classic set-piece goal, all timing and conviction, and it briefly transformed the mood inside the ground from dread to defiance.

The revival lasted barely six minutes. On 56 Sassuolo restored their lead with a goal of clean simplicity, Vasilije Adzic collecting possession in the centre of the box and driving a right-footed shot low into the bottom left corner. Twice Bologna had drawn breath; twice Sassuolo had knocked the wind back out of them.

From there the visitors looked the more likely to add a third than concede a second. Bologna's response was heavy on endeavour and light on precision, the frustration mounting with every cross that failed to find its man. The Dall'Ara braced itself for another home defeat, another Sunday of familiar disappointment.

Salvation at the death

Then came the moment that rewrote the afternoon. Deep into the first minute of stoppage time, with Sassuolo camped on the edge of their own box, the ball dropped to Dovbyk in the centre of the area and he needed no invitation. His left-footed strike found the bottom right corner, and the release of tension was seismic. A point rescued from nowhere.

For Bologna it was more than a goal; it was a puncture of the gloom that had gathered around their start to the season. They move to two points, still 15th, still far from where their ambitions sit, but with evidence of a spirit that refuses to fold. Two goals in a single afternoon doubled their entire tally for the campaign, and the manner of the comeback should carry into the weeks ahead.

Sassuolo remain 10th on four points, their evening a study in what might have been. Doig and Adzic had done the hard work; the failure to see out the finish will sting a group that has now scored five and conceded five, a team still searching for consistency after a mixed opening. Twice ahead and empty-handed of victory, they will replay that final passage of play for some time.

What comes next

The tables tell diverging tales. Bologna sit in the relegation conversation already, their single win still unclaimed and their defence leaking four goals in three outings, but the late equaliser hands them a sliver of momentum to build upon. A point earned in this fashion can steady a wobbling season far more than the arithmetic suggests.

Sassuolo, higher and healthier on four points, will nonetheless feel this was a chance spurned. Their attacking numbers hint at a side capable of hurting anyone; their inability to close out a two-goal lead hints at a fragility that better opponents will punish. Balance, not flair, is what they must find.

On the day, though, the last word belonged to Dovbyk and to a home crowd that had all but given up hope. Bologna 2, Sassuolo 2 — a scoreline that flatters neither and yet, in its own frantic way, told the truth of a contest that swung one final time when it mattered most.