BURTON ALBION - 1

ACCRINGTON STANLEY - 1

ACCRINGTON Stanley ended a run of four straight defeats as they moved eight points clear of the League One relegation zone with a 1-1 draw at Burton Albion's Pirelli Stadium. Dion Charles gave his side the lead early on with his seventh goal of the season before John Brayford equalised on the half hour mark. Stanley produced a battling display in the second period to end a poor run of form as they welcome Peterborough United to the Wham Stadium on Tuesday night. Despite coming into this game on the back of four defeats in a row, Stanley started the game in an assured way as they kept possession while probing at the Burton back line.

Stanley took the lead on the 15 minute mark as Charles bagged his seventh goal of the season.

Joe Pritchard caused problems by driving into the box, the ball went loose and found its way to Charles before the striker cut onto his left foot and smashed it into the bottom corner.

Minutes later, the Reds should have doubled their lead as Pritchard’s fine cross found the head of Ben Barclay, but he could only head over – really should have done better there.

Nigel Clough’s men equalised through Brayford after 30 minutes as he made no mistake with his free header from a corner.

Burton woke up after the equaliser and Lucas Akins had his first sight on goal, but he dragged his effort wide of the far post.

Stanley thought they had taken the lead once again on the stroke of half time as Barclay powered forward, resulting in Sadou Diallo having a shot that was very well saved by Kieran O’Hara.

From the rebound, Charles put the ball in the net, but he was flagged for offside.

There was drama minutes before half time as Mark Hughes was pushed over the advertisement boards by Ryan Edwards resulting in bookings for both players.

It was a lively in the second half as Stephen Quinn went in the book for a terrible challenge on Seamus Conneely, who was incensed by the tackle.

Quinn then came within a foot of giving his side the lead as his first time effort on the edge of the Stanley box drifted just wide.

A nice short corner routine almost paid off for the away side, but Diallo’s strike from about 10 yards out was poor and way over the target.

The second period was a scrappy affair with both sides struggling to carve out any clear chances, but the Reds were able to take a point back to Accrington with them.

Burton XI: O’Hara, Brayford, Daniel, Edwards, Buxton, Quinn, Fraser, Akins, Sarkic, O’Toole, Murphy

Subs: Garratt, Templeton, Sbarra, Shaughnessy, Nartey, Anderson, Powell

Stanley XI: Bursik, Johnson, Hughes, Sykes, Opoku, Clark, Conneely, Barclays, Diallo, Pritchard, Charles

Subs: Savin, Sherif, Zanzala, Maguire, Rodgers, Alese, Simpson