McConville strike makes his point
SKY BET LEAGUE TWO SHELDAN KEAY
STANLEY had to settle for a point on Tuesday after they were held to a draw by Wycombe Wanderers.
Sean McConville’s second half strike cancelled out Adebayo Akinfenwa’s opener for the home side to give the two teams a share of the spoils at Adams Park.
Reds manager John Coleman was pleased with his team’s performance in the clash, and believed that they should have left with the victory.
“I think we did enough to win. We shouldn’t have gone behind as it was a horrendous decision for the free kick but then we should have defended it,” he told the club’s official website.
“We got back in it with a great goal from Sean, you cannot deny his work rate and it was a fantastic goal. Then we had enough of the play to win it.
“It was our best performance of the season, we were lacklustre on Saturday at Barnet, but we looked hungry against Wycombe and there were some big performances.
“We will get stronger as the season goes on.
“We have shown we have character this season – we dug in against Doncaster, we battled hard with 10 men against Bradford and that’s why Barnet was so disappointing as we have the tools to beat them.
“But we looked more of a threat against Wycombe. Billy Kee looked back to his usual self, he was a constant threat and held the ball up while John O’Sullivan is getting up to speed and will get better.”
Wycombe managed to take the lead after just five minutes of the game when former Wimbledon striker Akinfenwa came back to haunt Stanley.
He got on the end of a free-kick from Joe Jacobson before powering a well-timed header into the back of the net to make it 1-0.
The hosts had chances to increase their lead as the half progressed but they failed to take them, while Stanley threatened on several occasions as well.
Coleman’s side were the better team after the interval, and it didn’t take them long to get back on level terms.
McConville finished off a good move by slotting the ball past Wycombe goalkeeper Jamal Blackman to equalise for his side.
That goal give the Reds a boost, and they almost took the lead when Chris Eagles and Mark Hughes both went close.
The best chance of the match fell to Wycombe’s Sam Wood, when he saw his long-range volley smash against the crossbar with Aaron Chapman appearing beaten in the Stanley goal.
Kee then had a header deflected behind late on before Wycombe substitute Nick Blackman forced a good save out of Chapman in the closing stages, but in the end the teams took a point apiece.