Connor: Reds can reach play-offs

ACCRINGTON Stanley goalkeeper Connor Ripley thinks the club is capable of finishing in the League One play-off places this season.

The Reds are currently in tenth place in the division, having lost just one of their opening seven matches so far this season.

Ripley joined the club on loan from Middlesbrough at the start of the summer, and he admits his ambitions have changed since he arrived at the Wham Stadium.

“When I first came here I thought it could be a case of trying to keep the club up, but in the time I’ve been here I really don’t think that’s the ambition. The ambition is to make the play-offs,” he told the club’s official website.

“I think we can do that, I really do. The players that we’ve got here, and the style of play that we have is brilliant. Why can’t we get in the play-offs? It’s 11 men versus another 11 men. I’m really up for it and I’m really excited at what this club can do.”

Ripley is fighting for the number one spot at Accrington alongside Jonny Maxted, and while he gets on well with his counter-part, he says it is strictly business when it comes down to a place in the team.

“There’s tough competition. Jonny Maxted is breathing down my neck. Unfortunately he had that Mansfield game but if you look at the goals there isn’t really a lot he could have done,” he said. “He’s a good goalkeeper and you can’t just dismiss that because of that game. I’m happy being the number one, but it’s up to me to keep that position and keep Jonny out..”