Wycombe Wanderers 1
Ade Akinfenwa 5
ADE Akinfenwa continued his scoring record against the Reds – but Stanley will be happy with their point from a trip to Wycombe.
‘The Beast’ Akinfenwa scored his only league hat-trick against Stanley playing for Northampton and then scored in the play-off semi-final second leg for AFC Wimbledon to end the promotion hopes of John Coleman’s men in May.
And it only took five minutes for him to get off the mark for new club Wycombe as the target man had a free header which he powered home from ex-Red Joe Jacobson’s free kick.
Thankfully for the Reds, they made sure they didn’t suffer a second successive loss as Sean McConville tapped home his second goal of the campaign on 48 minutes to share the spoils.
And Coleman’s men may have felt they should have got all three as they bossed possession after the break although chances were at a premium.
It didn’t seem two minutes since Stanley were last at Adams Park with 500 fans in April as they won 1-0 to boost their automatic promotion push before agonisingly missing out on the final day of the season.
It was a much different night – 51 Stanley fans travelled - and a changed side with Stanley’s 17-goal striker from last season Billy Kee returned to the starting XI after a shoulder injury hindered his pre-season preparations.
But the Reds, already with frontmen Terry Gornell, Shay McCartan and Jordan Clark on the sidelines, suffered more injury woe when midfielder Scott Brown, who missed Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Barnet with a knock, suffered a recurrence in the warm-up with Arron Davies starting instead.
Akinfenwa then gave Gareth Ainsworth’s men a dream start – his first goal for Wanderers since his switch from the Dons in the summer.
Stanley huffed and puffed while Wycombe looked dangerous early on with Akinfenwa setting up Matt Bloomfield on 27 minutes and his goalbound effort hit his own player – thankfully for the Reds.
Kee’s first chance of this season came on the half hour but it was comfortable for Wycombe’s debutant keeper, Jamal Blackman, on loan from Chelsea, while Reds stopper Aaron Chapman did well to keep out a Jacobson free kick.
Stanley enjoyed spells of pressure around the Wycombe box towards the end of the first half –John O’Sullivan’s strike had Blackman stretching - but Stanley also had to hook an Aaron Pierre effort off the line.
Coleman must have given his side a half-time rollicking with all the subs warming up during the interval.
And they responded three minutes into the half when Janoi Donacien played in Kee on the wing and he slid the ball across the area with unmarked McConville tapping home at the far post to level the scores.
The woodwork then saved Stanley as Sam Wood had a go from 25 yards and his strike cannoned off the crossbar much to Chapman’s relief.
The game swung from end to end with Blackburn loanee O’Sullivan causing all kinds of problems for the Wycombe defence.
Akinfenwa thankfully left the field on 70 minutes with Rommy Boco coming on for Stanley in the final ten minutes.
Stanley looked the more likely side to grab a goal as they bossed possession but Chapman did keep out a Nick Freeman strike in the dying minutes as both sides had to settle for a point.
Stanley: Chapman, Donacien, Beckles, Hughes, Pearson, O’Sullivan (Hewitt 86), Davies, Conneely, McConville, Eagles (Boco 81), Kee
Subs: Parish, Jones, Hery, Lacey, Sykes
Wycombe: Blackman, Jacobson (Freeman 63), Pierre, Stewart, Jombati, Wood, Bloomfield (Bean 70), McGinn, Harriman, Akinfenwa (Thompson 70), Southwell
Subs: Richardson, Rowe, De Havilland
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