Shrimpers sunk
SKY BET LEAGUE ONE SOUTHEND ....................... 0 STANLEY........................... 1
ACCRINGTON Stanley picked up their second win of the season and their first clean sheet since January after a hardfought victory away from home against Southend United.
Colby Bishop netted in the second half for the Reds, with that proving to be the only goal of the game as Stanley were able to secure all three points at Roots Hall. Southend also had Nathan Ralph sent off.
That result has left Accrington in 17th place in the League One table, and manager John Coleman was glad to come out on top despite a hit-and-miss performance.
“Obviously I’m delighted to win the game against Southend, and I’m delighted with the clean sheet as well.
“I don’t think we played well in the first half, I don’t know whether it was the long trip on Friday but we were ponderous, we laboured when we had chances to break and we didn’t really hurt them,” he told the club’s official website.
“To create as many chances as we did away from home is good, but it’s not just going to stop there, it can’t stop there. We know that when we get it right we’re good, and we can hurt a lot of teams in our league.
“When we get it wrong we can more or less beat ourselves, which is something we need to iron out.
“Ironically I was about to take Colby Bishop off 30 seconds before he scored, he hasn’t played for two weeks and I think he was still a little sensitive with his ankle.
“I never expected him to play 90 anyway today, but Offrande Zanzala has been raring to go and he’s been fantastic all week. He was lively, Joe Pritchard was the same, so you know we’ve got a good squad here.”
It was a quiet start to the match, with neither side making any clearcut opportunities throughout the first 30 minutes.
The biggest moment came on 22 minutes when Ralph received his first yellow card for a late challenge on Jordan Clark.
Accrington’s first major attempt in the first half came through Sam Finley, as his deflected shot forced a good save out of Southend goalkeeper Mark Oxley.
It remained goalless at the break, but Stanley were quick out of the traps at the start of the second half, and their hard work was rewarded when they opened the scoring on 52 minutes.
Jerome Opoku did well inside the box before finding Bishop, with the striker marking his return to the starting line-up with a goal as he slotted home to make it 1-0 to the visitors.
Bishop was substituted shortly afterwards due to it being his first game back from injury, with Offrande Zanzala coming on in his place.
Zanzala should have doubled Accrington’s lead just past the hour mark when he had a free header, but he couldn’t get it on target.
Oxley was required again on 71 minutes to deny Finley, before the midfielder was then fouled by Ralph a few moments later, forcing the referee to show him his second yellow card and send him off.
There were further chances for Accrington during the closing stages as both Sean McConville and Joe Pritchard threatened, but in the end the 1-0 scoreline was enough to see Stanley over the line and earn all three points.