Bamber Bridge 1 Accrington Stanley 1

AN injury-time equaliser from Bridge defender Mark Jones cruelly robbed Stanley of two vital points in their desperate fight for UniBond Premier League survival.

Peter Borrowdale had tested stand-in Stanley goalkeeper Kris Ritchens early on with a shot that he saved well before Stanley scored on six minutes.

Left back Mike Langhorn hitting a well-struck low drive from 25 yards that gave Bamber keeper Alex Harrison no chance to save.

Most of the home side's approach play was coming down their left and Ritchens made another good catch, this time from Andy Whittaker. The Reds almost doubled their lead from a corner which almost crept in at the near post, but full-back Damien Corcoran was alert to clear while at the other end a long clearance from Dave Leaver forced Ritchens to race out of his area to head the ball clear.

Steve Baines almost beat the back-pedalling Harrison who snatched the ball out of the air as it headed goalwards.

As Stanley finished the first period on top, a Chris Ingham corner was well held by Harrison then a 30-yard lob by Billy O'Callaghan went just wide.

However, The Reds spent virtually all of the second half defending their slender lead, but Bridge found Ritchens in excellent form as Stanley defended magnificently.

Then deep into injury time at the end of the 90 minutes, one last corner saw central defender Jones find the net to deprive the Crown Ground men of their triumph.

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