A BAD injury to Worksop defender Tim Atkinson sparked a first-half rumpus at the Crown Ground and led to Stanley's Ian Harold being sent off.

Harold's tackle on Atkinson after 25 minutes did not look particularly bad, but Atkinson went down, clearly seriously hurt. Players began to square up to each other on the pitch with officials joining in from the bench.

It could have become nasty, especially when spectators threatened to get involved, but things gradually calmed down. Harold, a little harshly, got a red card while the game was held up for 20 minutes while the ambulance came for Atkinson.

The scoreline, however, does not give a true reflection of how Stanley played against third in the league Worksop, especially in the second half.

Stanley made a good start, Billy O'Callaghan shooting wide of goal and then Ged Walsh having an excellent effort cleared off the line by Gavin Smith with goalkeeper Jon Kennedy beaten.

Worksop went one up on 23 minutes when centre forward Phil Stafford hit home the rebound after Jamie Speare made a tremendous reflex save but could not hold on to the ball. Then came the Atkinson injury.

Darren Brookes replaced the injured player and Paul Tomlinson came on for Gareth Seddon as the match restarted. The Reds had a let off when Steve Johnson's free kick hit the bar from 35 yards, but fortunately rebounded to safety.

In the second half Stanley showed great determination and as the half began Kennedy saved well from O'Callaghan, then O'Callaghan fired in a 25 yard free kick which the keeper did well to hold. The Stanley pressure told on 71 minutes when a Paul Walker long throw from the left evaded the big Worksop centre backs and fell to O'Callaghan who hammered in the equaliser from six yards.

The 10 Reds were working hard keeping Worksop at bay, but on 82 minutes captain Linden Whitehead put them ahead again after he stole into the box and shot home a right sided cross. Stanley pushed extra men forward trying to pull the game back a second time, but Stafford scored with a header at the back post from a corner kick on 90 minutes to make the score 3-1.

On Tuesday, Stanley replay their postponed UniBond League Challenge Cup third tie against Chorley at the Crown Ground (kick-off 7.30pm).

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