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!

:-)!