Improving Stanley can rival top sides
ACCRINGTON Stanley manager John Coleman insists he still has aspirations for his team to be up near the top of the League One table come the end of the season.
The Reds ended a run of several games without a win when they picked up a 1-0 victory over Southend United away from home on Saturday.
That result has left Accrington in 17th place in the League One table, with two wins, four draws and four defeats leaving them on 10 points so far this season.
While his side may still find themselves near the relegation zone, Coleman is using the positives from last weekend to try and motivate his side to aim high this season.
“Our results are starting to improve, our performances have definitely improved since the start of the season. We’ve just got to keep going and keep believing that we can climb the table,” he told the club’s official website.
“We should have beat Wycombe Wanderers the other week and they’re second in the league, so there’s no reason why we can’t aspire to be there.
“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.”
Accrington return to the Wham Stadium this weekend, as they have a home game against Oxford United on Saturday. Oxford are in 10th place in the table, after picking up 15 points from their 11 games during the campaign so far.
After a slow start to the season, Oxford’s form has picked up in recent weeks, with the side winning three and drawing one of their last four league matches.
They were emphatic winners in their last league match, picking up a 3-0 win at home to Gillingham.
Two goals from James Henry and a strike from Matty Taylor was enough to earn the home side all three points at the Kassam Stadium.
That victory rounded off a superb week for Oxford, as they also knocked Premier League side West Ham United out of the EFL Cup after a dominant 4-0 win, while earning a massive 6-0 away win against Lincoln City in the game prior to that.
Stanley will be hoping for similar success to when they met Oxford in this fixture last season, as Coleman’s men earned themselves a 4-2 victory back in February.
Goals from Billy Kee, Sean McConville, Jordan Clark and Luke Armstrong was enough for the hosts, despite Luke Garbutt and John Mousinho converting for the away team.