Christian Stuani's penalty 15 minutes from time salvaged a point for Racing Santander from an entertaining 1-1 relegation battle with Sporting Gijon.
The hosts had the better of the chances in the first half as Juan Pablo denied Adrian Gonzalez and Bernardo hit the post, but it was Sporting who went in front when Diego Barral fired in a wonderful free-kick four minutes before the break.
The visitors should have extended their lead when Gregory headed over when unmarked inside the six-yard box early in the second half and they were made to pay for that miss as Alejandro Galvez unnecessarily wrestled Stuani to the ground inside the area and the Uruguayan stepped up to comfortably slot home the spot-kick.
A draw did not do either side much good with both remaining in the relegation zone.
The important of three points on both sides resulted in an open match.
Racing had the best of the opening quarter as Stuani shot straight at Pablo after only three minutes before Adrian tested the goalkeeper more thoroughly 15 minutes later with a left-footed effort that Pablo did well to turn away.
It was centre-back Bernardo, though, who came closest to scoring for the hosts in the opening half, but he was unfortunate as his header from Pedro Munitis' cross came back off the post.
Having weathered that early storm Sporting grew into the game and went ahead just before half-time thanks to a powerful free-kick from 20 yards by Barral that gave Tono Ramirez no chance.
The goal appeared to suit the visitors' gameplan as they were able to hit Racing on the break with relative ease early in the second period.
But they failed to make the most of their chances as Miguel de las Cuevas shot disappointingly into the arms of Tono before Gregory missed a great chance to double their advantage when he headed Alberto Rivera's cross over from point-blank range.
Racing's equaliser had a touch of controversy about it as, with Alberto Botia off the field for treatment, Galvez was adjudged to have pulled down Stuani in a crowded penalty area from a corner.
The Racing striker then sent Pablo the wrong way for his sixth league goal of the season.
Both sides had chances to win the game in a frantic final few minutes as Stuani headed wide when unmarked at the back post from Kennedy Bakircioglu's corner before Gaston Sangoy had an even better opportunity when one-on-one with Tono.
The keeper stood up well to make a crucial block and maintain Racing's three point advantage over Sporting in the fight for survival.
