SHAY McCartan came off the bench to edge Stanley a point nearer to securing their Football League status.

Almost a year to the day, Peter Murphy struck in stoppage time at York to earn a valuable 1-1 draw during the Reds' successful survival mission last season.

And McCartan repeated the feat to cancel out Michael Coulson's 61st-minute penalty and gain a result which could prove just as important.

The bottom two won on Saturday but McCartan's late leveller moved Stanley to 50 points, four clear of the relegation zone with four games left.

Eighth-placed York came into the game on top of the form table and put Stanley under some early pressure with a string of set-pieces, with Coulson heading a Will Hayhurst free-kick straight at keeper Marcus Bettinelli.

The Reds gradually got a foothold in the game and put together some decent passing moves, resulting in a Luke Joyce volley which was easy for home keeper Nick Pope and a Kayode Odejayi shot which the Stanley striker curled high and wide. Piero Mingoia also fired over from just outside the box.

York’s biggest threat remained from set-pieces and centre-half John McCombe almost bundled in a Hayhurst corner but Bettinelli saved low to his left and Ryan Brobbel fired the rebound over.

McCombe had an even better chance to break the deadlock when he was left unmarked at the far post but could only head Adam Reed's free-kick wide.

Tom Aldred then held Coulson on the edge of the box and the York striker hit the free-kick straight at the wall while Calvin Andrew's 20-yard shot deflected narrowly wide just before the break.

The Minstermen remained on top after the restart, with Nicky Hunt blocking a Coulson shot following a York break. Aldred blocked another Coulson effort as Stanley struggled to clear a corner before Reed and fellow midfielder Russell Penn fired wide from long range.

The Reds then failed to clear a free-kick and as the ball bounced in the box, the referee's assistant deemed Odejayi handled. Coulson tucked the spot-kick into the bottom-left corner, with Bettinelli diving the wrong way.

Stanley began to enjoy some possession in the home half again - and they needed to if they were going to get back in the game.

But for all their build-up play they couldn't quite prise open a defence which had kept seven straight clean sheets, their best chance during that spell being an Odejayi header which the Stanley striker skewed wide from Hunt's right-wing cross.

York almost doubled their lead on 78 minutes after winning the ball deep in the Stanley half, with Andrew unable to turn Hayhurst's low cross goalwards from inside the six-yard box.

Reed then blazed wide following a corner but substitutes McCartan, Lee Molyneux and Kal Naismith added a spark to the Stanley attack, resulting in their equaliser in the first minute of stoppage time.

Molyneux's left-wing corner was misjudged by Pope and floated over the keeper to the back post, where a grateful McCartan headed home his first Football League goal from less than a yard out.