A late Wycombe equaliser denied Carlisle United a rare home win this season as they drew 3-3 with Wycombe Wanderers.

Goals from Reggie Lambe and Jamie Devitt had given United a two-goal cushion, but Sam Saunders pulled a goal back for the Chairboys on the stroke of half-time with a superb free-kick.

Wycombe then equalised after the restart through an Adebayo Akinfenwa header.

Lambe then looked to have given Carlisle all three points, only for sub Paris Cowan-Hall to grab a late leveller to earn Gareth Ainsworth's men a point.

United burst out of the traps, with Lambe opening the scoring on four minutes.

An Adams corner found the midfielder in acres of space and he headed past Wycombe keeper Scott Brown to break the deadlock.

The Chairboys first chance came on 13 minutes as Akinfenwa caused problems in the United penalty box and Eberechi Eze drilled wide from the edge of the area.

United keeper Jack Bonham was finally called into action in the 21st minute. Away captain Adam El-Abd found Akinfenwa who found Craig Mackail-Smith. He forced a simple save from the Brenford loanee.

Shaun Miller then had a couple of chances in quick succession on the half-hour mark as he twice fired narrowly over the bar.

Four minutes later, superb defending from James Brown saw the Millwall loanee recover to deny Mackail-Smith.

United were awarded a penalty on the 35th minute when Shaun Miller went down after a Tom Miller back-heel under a challenge from Daniel Scarr, and Devitt made no mistake from the spot.

But Saunders did pull a goal back for the visitors right on the stroke of half-time with a superb free-kick.

Adams had a glorious opportunity to re-establish Carlisle's two-goal cushion early in the second period.

And he was made to pay for that miss on the 72nd minute when big Wycombe striker Akinfenwa towered over the Blues' defence at the back post to convert a Nick Freeman cross.

But Keith Curle's side looked to have grabbed the points on 84 minutes. Hallam Hope found Mike Jones, who found Lambe, and the Bermudian netted for the second time of the night.

The drama was not over, though, and - as Wycombe keeper Brown came up for a succession of corners - sub Cowan-Hall found the net from the second of them to earn the Chairboys a point.

Luke Joyce captained Carlisle United in the absence of Danny Grainger.

As part of two changes to United's starting line-up from their 1-0 win at Colchester on Saturday, suspended Grainger was not involved in the squad. Neither was Kelvin Etuhu.

Into the side came Devitt, who scored the only goal of the game at the Colchester Community Stadium, and Tom Miller.

Cumbrian Steven Rigg was also named on the bench for the first time at Brunton Park since his return to the Cumbrians. Fellow frontman, Cameron Salkeld, was also among the subs.

Wycombe drew 0-0 at home to Exeter on Saturday.

Carlisle: Bonham, T.Miller, Joyce (c), Liddle, Jones, Adams (Kennedy 82), Devitt (Hope 68), Brown, Lambe, S.Miller (Rigg 68), Hill.

Carlisle unused sub: George, Nabi, Cosgrove, Salkeld.

Wycombe Wanderers: Brown, Jombati, Jacobsen, Gape, El-Abd (c), Saunders (Bloomfield 78), Akinfewa, Freeman, Mackail-Smith (Southwell 73), Eze (Cowan-Hall 68), Scarr.

Wycombe unused subs: Ma-Kalambay, Stewart, O'Nien, Williams.

Ref: Scott Duncan