Sean shows there’s no need to worry!
8,000 Bristolians into raptures. But, in true Sean McConville fashion he calmly slotted into the bottom corner on 89 minutes and muttered to us all: ‘What were you worried about?’
I felt the game was very scrappy and at times we looked less fit than the home side. It was difficult conditions and the size of the Memorial Ground makes it a truly intense place to play for away teams.
They were targeting Sykes in the second half with the long ball (a tactic I think we may see often this term) and he did extremely well to come out of most battles on top. The one in which he didn’t, however, was the equalising goal. The defence is in a bit of a transition at the minute and if Richards Everton is a full back then I’m a 6-foot chicken.
He doesn’t look comfortable there and allowed a lot of time and space for the winger to find Payne’s head.
The back four may need tweaking as we advance into the season.
Up top, Zanzala attempted to make his presence known and got on the ball well to link with Clarke and Sean on either wing. He’s got passion and the will to impress so I hope we’ll see him come into his own as he gains confidence. Billy struggled to make a mark on the game but he was marked heavily.
The talisman may have to find some extra magic if three players from every side are assigned to keep him quiet. The birth of his son may also have been on his mind this week, I know it would be on mine and congratulations to him!
We were thrashed on Tuesday night against familiar opposition in Mansfield and I don’t think any of us could say we were too disappointed in getting knocked out of the League cup.
A good draw can provide us with cash but our bread and butter needs to be cementing ourselves in the division.
The score, however, may be a little more alarming to us worriers of East Lancashire.
It showed me that we don’t have much strength in depth whatsoever.
The size of our squad and high tempo style of play is bound to mean we pick up injuries along the way and to see the second string beaten very easily is a little concerning.
However, this early in the season we’ll chalk it off as an outlier and get back to smiling.
I’m really looking forward to this weekend as we welcome such a historic club in Charlton to The Crown Ground.
The return of Mr Tariqe Fosu (who not too long ago was on fire) will be a nice reminder of the calibre of player we are welcoming into Accrington these days.
The Londoners have had an identical start to the season as us, even getting drubbed midweek in the cup off lower league opposition so it’s all set up for a good game.
See you all there!