Accrington Stanley vs Shrewsbury Town
Venue: The Crown Ground
Kick Off: 3.00pm
Accrington Stanley:
Home: W11 D3 L7
Last Six: Combined (LLWLWL)
Home: (DWDLWW)
Shrewsbury Town:
Away: W8 D4 L9
Last Six: Combined (WDWWWW)
Away (WLDLWW)
From the away end – Shrewsbury Town
Seems a while since I last wrote an away article. Last time The Shrews were on their travels was when we went over to Cheshire for a an evening match on good friday. Despite the downpour on the open terrace containing about 1,000 Shrewsbury Town fans, our spirits were not dampened as we ran out 3-1 winners, with two goals from James Collins and one from Mark Wright.
Onto the next one, vs Accrington Stanley. Don’t forget last season both teams were the ‘rejects’ of the play-offs due to our respective opponents making it through to Old Trafford instead of us. Usually after a play-off campaign, Salop suffer from a hangover and standards drop the season after. However, this time is very different. Unbeaten at home all season, going for promotion, cemented in the top three, and even on track for the title. So there is plenty at stake for this game and if (BIG IF!) Torquay United and Crawley Townn lose, we will be playing in League One next season with two games to spare.
A few bad results for Accy has seen them placed in mid-table, with nothing to play for. On the other hand, we want to secure three points in order to gain promotion and in no doubt will the Stanley Ultras be wanting to spoil our party tommorow.
Backed by 1,800 proud salopians to the small Lancashire town, I think we can get another three points on the road, unbeaten in 6 we are full of confidence, even when we concede, we carry on fighting, and as we can see it pays dividends with our great run of results.
Ones to watch
Shrewsbury Town will be going all guns blazing so a number of players will be looking to add to the score sheet and become the hero of Shrewsbury. James Collins will be looking to add to his 15 goals and also looking to add to recent good performances and also double-figured goal tallies will be Mark Wright (11), Marvin Morgan (11) and Terry Gornell (10).
Accrington Stanley will be looking to spoil our party with the help from Padraig Amond who has scored 8 goals and Craig Lindfield who has scored 5 goals. Even old Blue’s favourite Kevin McIntyre will be looking to upset the party with a goal, old players always seemed to score against their old club, don’t they!
My Conclusion
With me predicting Salop not taking all 9 points from our quickfire home triple, I feel a lot more enthusiastic that we have, and the way we played in them all. With a great effort from Shrewsbury Town FC fans, taking around 1,800 fans up to Lancashire for the vital promotion clash and I’m pretty excited about this one, pretty confident, I really think we can stake a step closer to promotion and claim all three points vs Stanley. We are full of confidence going into this match, I am going to go for Accrington Stanley 1-3 Shrewsbury Town.
View from the opposition – Andrew O’Mara
Fans of Shrewsbury Town must be rubbing their hands together with glee before our upcoming meeting at the Crown Ground. Playing against a team that have already achieved all they can by settling in mid table – not chasing promotion, nor fighting relegation – must be a treat for a side gunning for a top position.
Of course nobody here at Accrington is disappointed with that feat. That we have somewhat comfortably retained our place in the league defies our size as a club, attendances and critics once more. However the achievement does not disguise the fact that our campaign has been a difficult one.
We began the season after losing some six key players from our play off side of 2011, two of which took the decision to make their way to New Meadow. While the usual rhetoric that football offers reassured fans that we would not be rocked by such a loss, there was certainly a demoralising effect which only compounded the heartache of a play-off exit.
We scoured our usual sources and botched together a squad of free transfers, youth academy turnaways, non-league unknowns and loanees from neighbour clubs. We struggled tactically as our intricate 4-2-3-1 formation which brought us so much success last term didn’t seem to take with the new personnel on board.
We swapped and shifted, hoping to gain some familiarity and more importantly, points on the board. But it wasn’t until we brought in veteran midfielder Bryan Hughes that we really took shape. Before his arrival on a free transfer in late October, we had won three league games. Immediately after Hughes’ signing, we hit a much sought after purple patch, winning seven and drawing three of the ten games dating from the date of his arrival to the middle of January.
The curse of our success brought a poison touch once more as the attention we had brought to ourselves attracted other clubs to our key men. Everybody’s favourite manager Graham Westley had blagged the position at Preston North End and used his new found resources to swoop in for our stalwart skipper Andy Procter. Losing him left a gaping hole in our midfield and spirit.
Before the first tear hit the ground, all of a sudden we were facing the prospect of an even larger loss. League One chancers Rochdale had made their interest known in our cherished management duo of John Coleman and Jimmy Bell. Talks went back and forth and then it happened. Twelve years of remarkable success had been truncated and we found ourselves gutted out.
Our board acted swiftly and efficiently, bringing in Sligo boss (and one of Graham Turner’s Wolves side) Paul Cook to take over. It took time to settle amid an injury crisis which saw a handful of key players sidelined for the duration. However Cook has instilled a new way of playing, new exciting players and a real positive ethos into the club already. We’ve played some great football and picked up a few good results in his short tenure, which has the fans all looking forward to what next season will bring.
Salop may well do as expected tomorrow; steamroll over the depleted Stanley side and confirm promotion. However, if it’s one thing our side has contributed to the Football League since our return, it’s a warning to never underestimate us. We’ll be doing all we can to upset the promotion party and delay the inevitable. If we fail, we’ll all have jelly and ice cream afterwards.
Here’s to a good game.
View From The Cowshed – andrewomarafootball.blogspot.com
Up The Town 