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

Monday 28 November 2011

Jumping ship, and not much better off...

After such a successful season last year, many of our better players moved on to bigger clubs. Some in leagues above and others that are in the same league as us. This article is about one of the players that moved on and is showing that the Grass isn't always greener at another club.

Surprising how money influences the
game even at this level.
Sean Mcconville - Even with his own uncle as assistant manager of Stanley, decided to join Stockport County. A team which had suffered 2 back to back relegation's and were currently in the Blue Square Premier. I know what your thinking, why go there? Guess the reason? '£££££' - Money. Stockport had recently been backed by a man called Tony Evans who 'promised' to sort the club out and get it back on track, including a new stadium and a load of cash. With this money, they brought in ex-liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann as manager. They also offered Mcconville 'Double' wages which lured him away from the already weakened Stanley side. We had a friendly match with Stockport in pre-season, with chants of Jessie J's hit song 'Price Tag'
          'It's not about the money,money,money' 
by our fans. Unfortunately we lost that game 1-0 with a penalty scored by who i wonder? Mcconville.

Well,well,well Seany Boy. 20th in the Blue square premier and only 2 points away from the bottom 4. Not exactly great is it? But wait, it gets worse! Tony 'money bags' Evans company pulled out of the club, saying that they couldn't reach an agreement. Dietmar Hamann also left the club earlier this month due to such a bad start. Got a feeling that Sean will be on the phone to his uncle and knocking on Mr. Coleman's door, very, very soon.


Summing up Mcconville's season in more detail. He has started 10 games for Stockport, scoring 3 goals and picking up 2 yellow cards. Mcconville did suffer a broken collarbone in late september thhough, leaving him out of action till early november. From reading notes about certain games, he is proving to be quite a influential player for them. Many of the Stockport fans think of him as a really good player. when he's fit, he starts.


I didn't think much of Mcconville through the first part of last season. Seemed weak on the ball and at times looked completely out of the game. He seemed to be picked for every match without having to do much. Once new year came though he became more of an intelligent player and got himself into more dangerous situations. Through this he became one of our main goalscorers. He knew how to get that ball in the net, a quality many of our players this season have been lacking.

Stockport suffered a 7-0 defeat last night at the hands of Grimsby Town, leaving them in 21st place and in the relegation zone. Mcconville wasn't even on the bench either. I don't mind stockport as a club and have nothing against them but surely Sean must be thinking to himself why on earth he's playing at non-league level. And unless he finds another club to join soon, he may well find himself working at primark again....

Sunday 27 November 2011

Great win!

A brilliant 3-0 win over the dagger's yesterday means that we're 10 points clear of the Relegation zone! A Craig Lindfield strike near the edge of the box 10 minutes into the second half and then substitute Padraig Amond scoring two good goals in 2 minutes to put the tie beyond doubt. Yesterday's performance brought back memories of our team last season. If we can get a good home form going this season then who knows....

The first half had us in control. On a slippy surface and gale force winds, we did well to create 2 or 3 good opportunity's which we didn't convert. Again I had myself thinking lady luck's just not going our way but remained confident that we should be able to get a goal in the second half.

The second half was more of an open affair, both teams creating half chances. Luck turned our way though, With Craig Lindfield's shot from just inside the area hitting the inside of the bar and in, 1-0 to the Stanley!

Dagenham seemed to wake up at this point, having a clear cut chance to score and about 3 goal line clearances. They look a poor team short of confidence at the moment. 2 subs then changed the game for us, Stockley and Hughes were to be replaced by Amond and Barnett. Both player's linking up for the second goal. Barnett's cross on the left wing whipped in with Amond managing to get his head to it and secure the points! About a minute later Dunbavin's long ball up controlled by Lindfield with Amond shot just outside the box rolling into the bottom corner.

Maybe not the greatest of performances but it's the point that count! I also thought that mclntyre had a decent game yesterday, hopefully he's becoming more defensive minded and focusing on the basics.
A great day! In which i'm now a shareholder in Accy Stanley!!

Josh (Part-Owner of Stanley) Rawcliffe




Friday 25 November 2011

Dagenham at home.....

A game which i think will determine our season, even at this early stage of the season. A win would put us 10 points above the relegation zone but a loss could leave us just 4. A win tomorrow and we can focus on trying to get up the wright end of the table, a loss leaves a deflated side desperate for a win in a fight near the bottom.....

Kurtis Guthrie has gone on loan to Southport till early January. Coleman must think that he's not ready for the step up to league football yet. If he can get some goals under his belt and get some experience he can be a great player for us in a season or 2. Ian Craney seems to be making great progress after suffering a broken leg. Hopefully we can get him back for the new year!

After last Saturday's draw at Macclesfield, I'm confident of a win tomorrow! 2-0 would do me nicely! 

Come On Stanley!

Josh (slightly confident) Rawcliffe.

Saturday 19 November 2011

Atleast we didn't lose...

1-1 the game finished. We didn't deserve anymore than a point today, and we were lucky to even get that! The game started with quite a positive approach from the players, keeping possession and playing it along the ground quite nicely. Maccelsfield however looked poor tbh. They hoofed the ball like a league 2 Stoke. Long throw-ins and Set pieces kept on coming and the only way they got the ball into the box. Their game plan worked though with them breaking the deadlock on the 17th Minute part, a corner whipped in with Macclesfield's centre back Brisley heading past Dunbavin. He did take it well though, breaking away from the Stanley marker and heading in with great accuracy and power, giving Dunbavin little chance.

From then we looked a beaten team, struggling for pace and power up top meant the ball kept coming back. There were no more clear chances in the first half though, giving us a chance to re-group and come out a different team.

The start of the second half didn't show much hope either, with the home side completely dominating possession and peppering our goal line. Credit to our defence, they kept us in the game and must have broke down at least 20 of their attacks. We did however make 2 decent chances, Procter was about a cm away from heading the ball into the net. And Hughes took a shot from outside the box, to which their goalkeeper made a decent save to his right and putting it out for a corner.

Coleman then performed a magic trick, Bringing 2 strikers on (Amond and Stockley) for 2 midfielders (Barnett and Hughes). Playing a 4-3-3 for the last 15 minutes of the game. It worked, oh yes it worked. 78 minutes on the clock, ball bouncing around in the box until Stockley got the ball and turned past the first defender, took a touch away from the second defender, and slided it into the Left hand corner of the goal. A wonderful controlled finish, from what was an awful performance by him last Saturday he certainly made up for it then!! From that moment it was any body's game, proper end to end stuff. There were many chances for both teams but no-one could get a shot away, 5 minutes time were added and Stanley gave away a silly free kick on the edge of the box, which Macclesfield booted in causing panic in the box until someone eventually got it clear.

                                              Dunbavin
        Winnard                  Long          Hessey           Mclntyre
Evans   Hughes-(Stockley)   Procter     Joyce    Barnett-(Amond)
                                              Lindfield

Fair play to the lads today but were still struggling for some sort of killer edge. I dont think the 4-2-3-1 formation is working this season because we dont have such attacking midfielders this season(Ryan,Mcconville etc). Stockley's finish was brilliant and i also thought Long and Hessey were absloutely emense today. Looking at the league table now, we are starting to create a gap from the bottom. (7 points clear of relegation zone). We will have to play better next saturday but signs are still pointing in the right direction!

Keep Calm And Keep Supporting Stanley!

Josh.

Friday 18 November 2011

Macclesfield Away!

I really enjoyed my trip there last season, even though the result wasn't the best. A Friday night game, open terrace, and an great atmosphere! It doesn't seem that long ago since we went there last. A 2-2 draw with them snatching a goal in injury time to stop us getting all 3 points, but to say we were 1-0 down at half time, i wasn't that disappointed with the point. I guess our form has changed a lot since then, with us being a high flying top half side that were destroying teams 3/4 -0 to a team near the bottom struggling to get a grasp on our season.

Unfortunately Guthrie is a doubt for tomorrow's game. Hoping he can get back in the team soon. He's been the only striker so far that's looked dangerous and showed passion. Yes he's only 18 and he can sometimes get bullied by more experienced defenders but his pace and his height makes us that bit more frightening in attack.  If we can get Guthrie and Evans (the striker on loan from Blackburn) linking up together, they should cut defences open in this league.Andrew Procter's red card against Notts County on Saturday has been overturned meaning that he should feature at Moss Rose. Our midfield is starting to look quite strong now, with Proccy, Joyce, Hughes, Barnett, Evans, Coid and others all fighting for the 5 midfield spots (2 defensive, 3 attacking). 

Kevin Long and Will Hatfield are also back into the squad after being ineligible to play in the FA cup. Craney is still sidelined and Peter Murphy is suspended because of that tackle (not sure if tackle's the right word there!!!) against Bristol.

I'm really looking for forward to tomorrow's game because i think we have a realistic chance of winning it. My prediction is a 2-0 win for the Stanley!

Come on Stanley!!!! 

                                                                Josh ASFC Rawcliffe.

Saturday 12 November 2011

Dull, boring and at times very depressing

Are the words i would use to describe today's performance. I didn't expect us to win against Notts County but i came away thinking on another day, if luck would have gone our way we could have won the game. The first 30 minutes of the game in my opinion were very even. With both teams making half- chances but nothing clear cut. Their first goal came around the 35 minute mark, with Stanley having many chances to get the ball way and led to a goal line clearance which the linesman gave as a goal. From wear i was sat, i thought the ball did go over the line.

After that we looked like a beaten team. No pace, no passion, no creativity and no fighting spirit. Their 2nd,3rd and 4th goal were an absolute shamble. Despite the result the worst part of the match for me were the sending off for Andrew Procter. My view was that the County player clearly had hold of Andy, brought him down and then he fell over with him. The referee knew that if Procter was guilty of the challenge then hes off, but unfortunately it was one of them days for Stanley and the ref gave it their way.

I don't like to single out performances but i thought Stockley (the new striker from Bournemouth) was very poor upfront today. He got knocked off the ball, his first touch was abysmal and he had no pace whatsoever. Murdoch made at least 2 shocking mistakes in goal today. The second goal (Got beat at his near post at quite an impossible angle) and the fourth goal (Slips leaving their player with an easy chip over the top of him.).

With us now out of all cup competitions its time to concentrate on the league. With the loss of so many key players in the summer it was always going to be hard. But im still confident theres time for Coleman to turn our season around!

Josh (Always Red) Rawcliffe

Friday 11 November 2011

FA Cup first round (Notts County Away)

Tomorrow Stanley face Notts County (away) in the first round of the FA cup! Near the top of League 1 and only been beaten at home once this season, I'll be surprised if we don't get a hammering! Captain Procter is back after being suspended but Peter Murphy will start his 3 match ban for his controversial sending off on Saturday. With Dunbavin and Murdoch both picking up knocks against Bristol Rovers, Jamie Speare has been called up as emergency keeper.

With our last Away win in February, I cant help but think an upset could be on the cards. Then again I've been saying that since the start of the season! With two decent performances against Crawley and Bristol Rovers i think were becoming more of a team that can achieve a top table finish come the end of the year.

My Prediction for tomorrow game is a 2-1 for Notts County. I don't think were solid enough defensively or good enough in attack to pick up a win. The only way i think we can have a chance of getting through to round 2 is to get a draw at their place then bring them back to the Crown and get a lucky 1-0 win

Good Luck to the lads tomorrow, please prove me wrong!!!

COME ON YOU REDS!!!

Thursday 10 November 2011

My Blog!

Hi all,

Decided to make a blog today. Should be Interesting! Most of my posts will be about my beloved Accrington Stanley with afew other surprise posts in there! I will write my first proper post tomorrow and it will be about the Notts County FA cup game on Saturday!

:-)!