Ten-man Accrington Stanley held on for a much-needed point at Port Vale with the Reds makeshift line-up battling hard for the draw.

Aaron Pressley gave the Reds the lead from the penalty spot in the second half before former Stanley loanee David Worrall equalised.

On 75 minutes, Harvey Rodgers saw red for handling the ball on the line but the resulting penalty, from Dan Butterworth, was saved by Lukas Jensen.

Stanley had to defend well to keep out Vale - but it was a strong battling performance after the disappointing loss to Lincoln on Saturday.

John Coleman made five changes due to another host of injuries and the Reds boss also reshuffled his pack.

Jensen came into the No 1 spot with Mo Sangare back in defence, after a long injury lay-off since October. Teenager Aaron Pickles made his full debut in the backline.

It was the Valiants who started the better with Dan Jones and Tom Conlon testing Jensen while Funso Ojo could have opened the scoring on six minutes but, in a good position, his effort was over the bar.

Stanley came more into it, Shaun Whalley going on a mazy run before he was tackled while Pressley tested keeper Jack Stevens with a low drive.

Gavin Massey miscued an effort in a decent position before the break as chances were at a premium but Stanley’s defence were standing firm.

Conlon fired narrowly wide after the restart and it was Stanley who took the lead on 50 minutes.

Pressley was judged to have his legs taken by Ojo in the area and the Brentford loan striker drilled the penalty low into the far corner of the net – his first league goal for Stanley.

Port Vale equalised on 56 minutes when a Jones long throw found Conlon with Jensen doing superbly to save his shot. The ball bounced out and landed for Worrall whose strike was deflected off the foot of Sangare into the far corner of the net.

Sangare came off on the hour mark – a superb effort from the defender after such a lengthy lay-off.

A goalmouth scramble on 70 minutes saw Stanley go close but Rodgers’ effort was deflected wide.

It was end-to-end then with Vale appealing for a spot kick after a challenge by Liam Coyle in the area and Stanley broke when the spot kick wasn’t given but the home side managed to get back to clear.

Then came controversy in the 74^th minute when Ben Garrity’s shot was handled on the line by Rodgers and Nathan Smith tapped home the follow up. However referee Ben Speedie had already blown the whistle to give Vale a penalty with Rodgers seeing red.

Butterworth’s penalty was superbly saved by Jensen with the home fans furious the ‘goal’ hadn’t stood.

Accrington-born teenager Connor O’Brien, who was on loan at Radcliffe last week, came on for  Stanley on 80 minutes, replacing Rosaire Longelo, and Stanley had to defend in seven minutes of added time to secure the point.

The Reds remain in the bottom four but displayed a fighting spirit demanded by Coleman.

Stanley: Jensen, Sangare (Fernandes), Rodgers, Pickles, Longelo (O’Brien), Coyle, Martin, McConville, Quirk, Pressley (leigh), Whalley

Subs: Savin, Butler-Oyedeji, Woods, Adekoya

Yellow: Fernandes, McConville

Crowd: 4729 (97 from asfc)