ON a day when Accrington Stanley helped to commemorate the centenary of the Christmas truce of 1914 it seemed appropriate that their game with league leaders Wycombe Wanderers ended all square.

Both sides must have been reasonably satisfied with a point from a game that was more about battling than free flowing football.

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A much changed Stanley side from the midweek FA Cup defeat at Yeovil started poorly and found themselves behind inside ten minutes.

Matt McClure provided a warning with a header over the bar early on but it wasn’t heeded and the Chairboys soon went in front. Wide man Paris Cowan-Hall was the scorer, receiving the ball inside the box on the left and picking out the top corner to beat Luke Simpson, in goal in place of the injured Jack Rose, and open the scoring.

The Stanley defence were convinced that Cowan-Hall was in an offside position but despite their protests referee Lee Probert allowed the goal to stand.

Cowan-Hall could have had a second minutes later but blasted his strike over the top from six yards.

Stanley’s best chance to level in the first half fell to centre back Tom Aldred, who span well in a congested penalty area and got a shot away on his left foot which was inches over Matt Ingram’s cross bar.

The balance of play was largely in Wycombe’s favour though and McClure went close to adding a second before the break on the counter though he was unable to guide Sam Wood’s cross on target when he met it inside the area.

A big improvement was need by Stanley in the second half and it duly arrived. Former Stanley man Joe Jacobson was penalised for a foul on John O’Sullivan two minutes into the second half and the visitors were duly punished. Kal Naismith delivered an incisive cross from the right and Sean Maguire made a run to the near post to guide a header past Ingram and level things up. With Maguire’s loan spell ending after the game and uncertainty over whether he will be allowed to stay, it was an important farewell.

The goal turned the tide and the Reds began to dominate, with the highly-rated Ingram being forced to prove his worth in the Wycombe goal. One save in particular was out of the top drawer as he clawed Aldred’s point-blank effort around the post for a corner.

Minutes later O’Sullivan, also saying farewell to the Store First Stadium after a successful loan, was denied a final goal as Ingram pushed his header over the top.

Andy Procter is yet to score since returning to Stanley but was very close to ending that run. His low strike from an acute angle looked destined for the corner of the net only for a defender to intervene.

At the other end Simpson had been a virtual spectator but had to push Cowan-Hall’s shot wide after the visitors made a rare forward foray.

In deteriorating conditions both sides seemed happy with a share of the spoils as the Christmas spirit arrived a little early.