STANLEY came from behind against Plymouth on Saturday to move a point closer to their League 2 survival target.
The Reds fell behind to a 32nd-minute opener by Reuben Reid on a sticky Store First Stadium pitch.
Battling against the elements and a side that came into the game in the play-off places, Stanley had to fight for every inch and early in the season they might have resigned themselves to defeat.
Not now though. James Beattie’s battlers refused to give in and with nine minutes left, Tom Aldred claimed his second goal in two games to deservedly draw the Reds level and keep them six points clear of the drop zone.
A downpour before kick-off made it heavy going for the likes of Kal Naismith and James Gray up front, although Gray tested keeper Jake Cole with an early shot.
But Argyle, featuring ex-Accy midfielder Rommy Boco, then broke from a Stanley corner. Tope Obadeyi cut inside returning right-back Nicky Hunt and Adam Buxton, switched to left-back to cover for the injured Laurence Wilson, came across to block Obadeyi’s shot.
Plymouth captain Conor Hourihane then picked out Reid with a diagonal ball to the right but Marcus Bettinelli saved with his feet before Stanley put some pressure on. Will
Hatfield and Luke Joyce had shots blocked while Aldred’s header was cleared behind.
With rain continuing to fall, Peter Murphy saw the ball get stuck on halfway and the Pilgrims made him pay. Hourihane played it wide for Reid, who beat Buxton for pace down the right channel and this time his low strike went through Bettinelli’s legs.
Rather than moaning about the pitch, as Kevin Ellison did when the original Morecambe game was abandoned, the two sides got on with it and it made for an even, hard-fought contest with chances coming at each end.
The Reds replied with a 25-yard drive by Joyce testing Cole while at the other end, Hunt cleared after Bettinelli spilled a dipping long-range strike by Andres Gurrieri.
Kayode Odejayi came on for Naismith at the break and Buxton was denied a penalty shortly after the restart while Murphy was unable to prod the ball home from Hunt’s long throw.
Bettinelli had to stay alert to turn Hourihane’s 20-yard shot wide while Max Blanchard’s header was blocked on the line from an Argyle corner.
Hatfield curled a 20-yard effort towards the bottom corner but Cole did well to turn it wide, before Odejayi headed over from a Lee Molyneux cross.
Stanley continued to press for an equaliser, leaving themselves open at the back, and Neal Trotman almost doubled the lead from two Hourihane free-kicks.
And the centre-half would rue those misses as Argyle could only clear Hunt’s long throw as far as Joyce, who squared to Hunt. He rolled it down the line for Molyneux and his first-time, right-footed cross was perfect for Aldred, who rose highest to head home from six yards.
The centre-half hadn’t scored in his first 82 games as a professional. But after breaking his senior duck in last week’s derby demolition of Morecambe, this made it two in two and earned Accy a valuable point.
STANLEY: Bettinelli 7, Hunt 8, Aldred 8, Winnard 8, Buxton 7, Hatfield 8 (Windass 69, 6), Joyce 7, Murphy 6, Molyneux 7, Naismith 6 (Odejayi 46, 7), Gray 6 (Mingoia 90). Subs: Atkinson, Bowerman, Liddle, Webber.
