Accrington 2-2 Port Vale

Vale secured an away point as goals from McCombe and Shuker earnt Micky Adams’ side a deserved draw with Accrington Stanley.

Marc Richards was ill, so Tom Pope came into the starting line-up while the Valiants only named four on a substitute bench boosted by the return of Lee Collins.

After a relatively incident-free opening half-hour, it was Vale who took the lead on the half-hour mark through John McCombe’s third goal of the season. The home keeper could only punch the ball upwards and McCombe used his height to reach the ball and see it loop into the goal.

But just on the brink of half-time the home side ended their long goal-drought with an equaliser through Amond. It was cruel luck on Vale as the goal came against the run of play.

Clayton McDonald was forced off at the break, so Lee Collins made his long-awaited return from injury.

The home side started the second-half brightly but Chris Shuker put Vale ahead when he scored his first goal for Vale, courtesy of a mistake from the Stanley keeper.

Then the home side felt they deserved a penalty when a Vale player appeared to hand-ball in the area. And with two minutes left, Accrington sub Hatfield’s shot beat Stuart Tomlinson to earn the home side a share of the points.

Vale: Tomlinson, Loft, Taylor, McCombe, McDonald (Collins), Rigg, Shuker, Grifith, Marshall (Morsy), Dodds, Pope (Williamson)

Subs: Martin