Saturday 31 December 2011

Hereford report.

I could probably sum up this game in less than 100 words. A incredibly hard game to write about. Very little chances and two poor teams cancelling each other out for 80 minutes of the game. I guess 1-1 was a fair result for both teams.

After the game was put back 15 minutes, (changing the kick-off time to 8 PM.) due to the Stanley team coach arriving late. Maybe that setback had an influence on the start of the match. Hereford took the lead within the first few minutes at Edgar Street. With a ball finding the bulls striker outside the box and him hitting it into the net. He did take it well, taking a touch to his right and curling it into the bottom right hand corner. Woeful defending also contributing to the goal. An awful start by the boys in red.

Very little chances fell to either team after that. Both teams lacking creativity and fire power. Neither team could get a grip on the game. A boring first half.

HT Hereford United 1 - 0 Accrington Stanley


The start of the second half was unfortunately very similar. No real chances apart from a long ball forward nearly finding Podge. Coleman used his first sub very early on, putting micah Evans on for Jayden Stockley who struggled in probably his last game in a Accy shirt. With Hereford's dreadful recent results, their players started to drop back and let us control in midfield, but we still couldn't find a opening. A cheap free-kick about 40 yards was given in Stanley's favour. Hessey whipped the ball in and the Stanley players managed to get the ball across the line according to the linesman. I couldn't see if the ball actually did go over the line so it should be nice to see the replays.

With that goal saw Stanley dominated but couldn't create anything infront of goal.
FT Hereford United 1 - 1 Accrington Stanley

A point was a fair result for both teams. A very dull game to be honest. If you look at our last 3 away games then 7 points out of 9 is brilliant! As long as we can get a victory against Maccelsfield on monday then today has to go down as a good result.

Dunbavin- 7 - Made a decent save although his kicking game was very poor.
Mccynltre - 6 - Got caught out alot and struggled to cope with a faster player.
Hessey - 7 - Not a bad performance but possibly at fault for the first goal.
Long - 8 - Dominated in defence, apart from the first goal was solid.
Winnard - 7 - Played well, didn't have much to do in all honestly.
Procter - 7 - Played okay and put all effort in . Same old Procter performance.
Murphy - 6 - Not a midfielder. Decent right back. Struggles in midfield.
Hughes - 6.5 - Okay. Not at his best and struggled to boss the midfield until late on.
Lindfield - 6/7 - Decent performance. Hard to really judge.
Amond - 6/7 - Tried but wasn't tall enough to win headers against Hereford's defense.



Stockley - 6 - Really struggled, didn't win a header.
Evans - 7 - Used the wings well and apparently scored our goal.


Thursday 29 December 2011

Hereford!

Tomorrow the Stanley boys face Hereford away from home. Before the Wimbledon game i would have predicted a draw against them. Since then we have won 2 consecutive away games and flying up the table. Can we make it a third? I'll stick my neck out. I'll say 2-0 Accrington.

Hereford aren't in the greatest of form either, finding themselves struggling near the other end of the table.

Hopefully we can push on and get a victory tomorrow. It would be a brilliant way to round off a spectatular year for us Stanley fans.

I apoligise for the short preview. Struggling to keep up over the christmas period! Should get back on track next week.

Keep the faith.

Josh. XD

Tuesday 27 December 2011

3 points is all that matters.

A wonderful strike from Bryan Hughes seals the points for Stanley on a very windy boxing day! A nice 2-1 victory gave the Stanley fans an extra Christmas presents.

The game started very quietly with neither team creating any real chance. 2 evenly matched teams who like to get the ball down and play attractive football cancelled each other out. Maybe the treacherous conditions had an impact on the game but didn't favour either team. Fortunately enough we managed to get the breakthrough, the ball was scrambling inside the box until Jayden Stockley tipped the ball into the net from close range. If an opportunity like that would of happened at the beginning of the season it would have surely been wasted. I guess you could say that Stanley just about scrapped the first half, and possibly deserved to be leading at half time. But it was a very tight affair.

Morecambe started very brightly in the second half. Dominating possession and creating a couple of chances. They did manage to covert one of them though. A cross came in with the ball bouncing round the box. One Morecambe player managed to get the ball in the net to make it 1-1. Dunbavin had to make many last gasp saves to keep it at that score as Morecambe piled on the pressure. But up came  Bryan Hughes, outside the box he to a touch to his right then dug it out of the ground as it flew into the corner of the net. Our fans went mad! Super Bryan Hughes to the rescue! Several opportunity then fell to Stanley to put the game to bed but couldn't be converted. Luckily the Stanley defence managed to hold off a late Morecambe attack and keep the score in Stanley's favour. FT 2-1.





Sunday 25 December 2011

Boxing day CLASH!

A nice way to end the festive season with a game against Morecambe! I think tomorrow's going to be an absolute classic at the Globe Arena. To be honest, this fixture never disappoints! If you look at recent form, we have got to be the favourites. Morecambe have picked up 2 points out of there last 5 games. Compared to our 13 out of 15. Hopefully that run will carry on tomorrow!

We will miss Joyce tomorrow imo. He has been very influential and bossed the midfield. I hope Barnett will come in for him though, At least his class will come in handy.

I can remember saying the next 3 games were cruical before the Torquay game, 1 game down and 1 win. Two away trips now but after our first away win at Wimbledon anything is possible!

Sorry for the short pre-match analysis, it is christmas day!

Keep The Faith

Josh.

Saturday 17 December 2011

A comfortable victory!

My recent post are starting to become very repetitive and I feel like I'm writing the same article every week! Another marvellous win for the boys yesterday, an easy 3-1 victory over a Torquay team that hadn't lost in 7 games.

The match started with us dominating position incredibly well and creating many chances the just needed a toe-poke to open the scoring. I must say that we used the wings superbly in the match and using the full width of the pitch is now becoming our secret tactic to get through the oppositions defence. The first goal for us had a slight bit of luck to it, Lindfield won the ball and was blatantly fouled inside the box (choosing to carry on with his run) and got the ball out wide. The ball was then crossed in, taking a slight deflection and landing to Stockley, laid it off to Bryan Hughes who smashed it goal bound. Taking a slight nick off the woodwork and in! 1-0.
Torquay down to 10 men.

One of the Torquay players was then sent off for a bad tackle on Winnard, don't think there was much to argue about. More chances fell to Stanley with Andrew Procter having 2 half-chances before the break. The 2nd half was very much the same, Torquay did have a couple of decent chances to make it level but didn't make the most of them. Stockley then scored a wonderful goal from far out, taking the goalkeeper by surprise and smashing it into the net. Shortly after that Luke Joyce was given a straight red card for some sort of off ball contact. I didn't see much of it but from Mr. Coleman's reaction, the Referee made a ridiculous decision. Our 3rd goal was made by a piece of magic from Bryan Hughes, taking it past the defender and crossing it in for Long to finish. Putting the game to bed. Torquay scored just after the 4th official gave 3 minutes of injury time, but the result was already clear, Stanley win again.....

Player Review.
  • Dunbavin - 8. Didn't have much to do, made a great save late on.
  • Murphy  - 7. Played well, was solid in defence.
  • Long - 8. Didn't let anything past him, becoming a key player in the team.
  • Winnard - 8. Same as Long. Just as good as Hessey at centre-back.
  • McIntyre - 8. Had doubts about him at first but getting used to his new position.
  • Procter - 8. Covered every yard.
  • Joyce - 7. Played well apart from being sent off.
  • Hughes - 9. Pulled the strings, a class above the rest.
  • Lindfield - 8. Used the wings really well. Showed passion and I'm glad to see him playing well.
  • Amond - 7. Didn't do too much but put himself into dangerous positions.
  • Stockley - 8. Wonderful goal, probably his best game in the red shirt.

Match - 7/10
Referee - 6/10
My Man of the Match: Bryan Hughes.

Just like to finish by wishing you all a very merry Christmas!

Josh.
(Photo's supplied by Emily.)

Friday 16 December 2011

Torquay at home!

A nice little home game for us tomorrow! A long way up for the torquay fans so hopefully the snow will stay away. Tomorrow's a game which we must go out and go for the win! A loss won't affect us, a draw doesn't mean anything but a win could push us very, very close to the playoff positions...

The next 3 games will (in my opinion) shape our season. Torquay (home), Morecambe (away) and Hereford (away). If we can get 6+ points from these games then we can stake a challenge up the table, any less and i predict a comfortable mid-table finish for us, Which I would have happily taken at the beginning of the season.

My prediction for tomorrow is a 3-0 win for us! Call me optimistic but I think the team's starting to gel and I Can see another Unbeaten run happening very shortly!

Josh.

Sunday 11 December 2011

Yes! Ohh yes!

9 months of pain has finally been lifted, many miles up and down the country have finally been rewarded, Finally we have managed to win away! All them away trips I've been to, with us not even having a shot on target in some of them. Trips to Plymouth, Barnet and Northampton. Standing on the open terraced at Macclesfield absolutely freezing! Seeing us being ripped apart by Notts County. Having to watch us be in control of the game, just for them to grab a goal on the counter-attack. Yes, the day has come!


Once i got to the ground (after about 3 different tube journeys and a taxi) I noticed their ground wasn't much different to ours. Apart from their away stand being covered, the stadiums are more or less the same. We were housed in the stand going across the pitch. They obviously misjudge the amount of fans we'd bring to the game. They closed off most of the stand and left us with a little percentage of it. Even when they saw us struggling for space, they kept the other part closed!!

Stanley players celebrating the 2nd goal
The match started off quick and had us scoring on our first attack! Nice build up from the right hand side, then a superb cross from Bryan Hughes leaving Amond just needing a little touch to score. 1-0 up within the first 3 minutes! After we scored Wimbledon had a good 5/10 minutes of all-out attack but fortunately couldn't get the ball in the net! After this period we got back into our grove and Hughes pulled the strings again. A wonderful pass found Winnard just inside the box, he crossed it in with Lindfield finding the goal. Two very similar goals gave Stanley a 2-0 lead.

Stanley then carried on their dominance with a couple of chances before the half time whistle but none of them could be converted. HT 0-2.

The second half was a game of clock watching and using up the time. We still created pressure though and Stockley had a wonderful chance to completely kill the game, putting it wide. Wimbledon put on a bit of pressure towards the end but nothing particularly dangerous for Dunbavin to deal with.

Red sky -
Even the sky wanted us to win!
A truly magical win now puts us 15th in the table. Is it just me or is there playoff surge in the distance? Could we push on and try and match last season? Or even better it?!

Getting ahead of myself abit there i think!

Josh Rawcliffe.
Kevin Mcylntre

Friday 9 December 2011

Here we gooo!

As i write this, I'm on the way down to London! To watch the mighty Stanley boys in action! Tomorrow's game against AFC Wimbledon will be a tough one. A team that many people wrote off at the beginning of the season and predicted them to be struggling at the bottom. But they've shown that they can certainly be pushing for a playoff place! They currently lie in 13th position but haven't won a game in the league for 8 games.


Tomorrow will be the first time Accrington and AFC Wimbledon have ever met, this is mainly because of the home side only being founded in 2002. With Ian Craney now back from his broken leg and ankle and Murphy back from suspension, Coleman has a full strength team to choose from. I think tomorrow will be a very tough game for both teams, but hopefully we can grind a win!


I'm getting fed up of all these away trips without a win, so surely Coleman must feel the same! My head says a 1-1 draw but my heart says 2-1 to the boys in red!


On a more general note, I am slightly annoyed at the game changes of our games with Hereford and Burton Albion (both away), being changed from the usual saturday 3pm times to 7:45 friday night games. So if the game(s) finish at 9:45, back in the car for 10, You ain't going to get back home till a while after midnight! A know this won't affect many people, but this reason means i can't attend either of those games. Sorry guys! If any other Stanley fan (or even a burton/Hereford fan) who's attending the game would like to do a match report it would be greatly appreciated!


Josh (ASFC) Raw.

Thursday 1 December 2011

No game this weekend....

I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. No game for the mighty reds because of our woeful display in Nottingham. Maybe a good time to let the players rest, we aren't playing great, a week off may do them a world of good. I'm sure Coleman won't be letting them off lightly, practising linking up and make sure we use set-pieces to their full strength.

In other Stanley news this week, Colane tropical mineral water are the new stadium sponsors of the club! I'm dreading to hear of what name they come up with.'Colane water park?' or ' The Colane Mineral water stadium?'or my favourite 'The slightly tropical Colane mineral water with a hint of mango Ground' -_-. Whatever name they come up with i guess we will have to accept, even though everyone will call it the Crown Ground. At the end of the day we will earn a decent amount of money from it.

And to end on a positive note, My share for Accrington Stanley has arrived! I am now officially a shareholder! I personally think at 14 that's a decent accolade to have!

'All day and night, I'm red and white.'

Josh (Business Man) Rawcliffe