ACCRINGTON STANLEY 2 BRADFORD PARK AVENUE 1

STANLEY staged a gritty performance to pick up three vital points against fellow promotion contenders Bradford Park Avenue.

The game was watched by 738 spectators, the highest crowd of the season at the Crown ground.

The Reds had to come from behind to win, saw Avenue miss a penalty and were reduced to 10 men as Steve Hollis was sent off for the second time in a month.

Recent record signing Liam Watson almost gave Stanley a 10th minute lead when he latched onto a long kick by goalkeeper Jamie Speare but his shot from an acute angle went agonisingly wide of the goal.

It was Bradford who took the lead on 25 minutes when Martin Pemberton crossed from the left, Mark Hancock's shot was parried by Speare and Hancock reacted quickest to follow up and score.

Russell Payne launched an immediate response with a good run which ended with him hitting a 25 yard shot that Avenue goalkeeper Gavin Kelly did well to save.

Accrington drew level in the 35 minute, Mark Brennan found Mark Shirley on the left wing and his superb low ball into the penalty area was met by Mark Ceraolo at the far post who swept the ball into the net for his ninth goal in as many games and his 17th of the season. Stanley pressed again and, two minutes later from a free kick, Hollis struck a 30 yard left foot shot that dipped and forced Kelly into a good save.

The Reds fans were to celebrate again on the stroke of half time as Steve Caswell's inswinging free kick from the right was met by the head of Brennan, his deft header went beyond Kelly to put Stanley in front.

A minute after half time Watson was put clear by Ceraolo and should have done better than to misshit his shot at Kelly. The luckless striker was almost gifted a goal on 74 minutes when a poor clearance by Kelly fell straight to Watson but again his shot was straight at the keeper.

Nine minutes from time Avenue were awarded a penalty in an incident that saw Hollis, who had been booked in the first half, receive the red card from referee Mr David Redhead after Jason Maxwell went down.

Stephen Ball stepped up to take the spot kick and much to the delight of the Stanley supporters, blasted the ball high over the crossbar.

Ball almost made amends in the last minute but his goal bound shot was cleared by substitute Jimmy Bell as the 10 men hung on, and with the three teams above Stanley all drawing, the Reds are now only four points behind second placed Burscough with two games in hand.

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