‘We let ourselves down a few times, but you can’t fault our lads for their heart and effort’
SHELDAN KEAY
ACCRINGTON Stanley moved to the top of the League Two table after a stoppage time winner earned them a victory against previous league leaders Luton Town on Saturday.
Billy Kee netted in the third minute of injurytime to earn the Reds the victory at Kenilworth Road, knocking Luton off the top of the table for the first time since November.
Sean McConville opened the scoring for the Reds just before half-time, before Elliott Lee equalised for Luton on the hour mark.
Kee’s winner means Accrington are now eight points clear of the play-off places, and manager John Coleman was delighted with the victory.
“We expected a tough game because they’re not top of the league for no reason. They’re one of the best teams in the division and you can see why,” he said.
“The threats they have meant they pinned us back in the first five minutes and we had to get it down and play, and then we scored a terrific goal.
“I turned to Jimmy Bell on the hour mark and said that the game had taken a bit of a lull.
“The game went flat, their fans went flat, so I thought this may be the time for us to capitalise, but then we get a corner yet they score.
“From our point of view we know we can do better than that so we will analyse that.
“We let ourselves down a few times, but what you can’t fault our lads for is their heart, effort and determination.
“In the last minute we got the ball down and passed it when anybody else may have smashed it, break when McConville opened the scoring on 44 minutes. Kayden Jackson found the midfielder in space, who then smashed the ball past Luton goalkeeper Marek Stech from the edge of the area to make it 1-0 to Stanley.
Luton levelled things up just after the hour mark when they counterattacked after a Stanley corner, with Lee finishing the move when he slotted the ball past Aaron Chapman to make it 1-1.
It looked like the two teams would have to settle for a point when the game entered the closing stages, but Kee had other ideas as his rocket flew into the bottom corner to make the final score 2-1.
The victory also meant that Stanley gained revenge on Luton, after suffering a 2-0 home defeat when the teams met in the reverse fixture at the Wham Stadium back in October.