McConville blow
ACCRINGTON Stanley manager John Coleman has revealed that they’ll be without midfielder Sean McConville for the next few weeks after he suffered a shoulder injury.
The injury meant that McConville missed the 2-2 draw with Oxford United on Saturday, along with the 3-0 EFL Trophy victory over Oldham Athletic in midweek.
The diagnosis means he will miss out when Accrington head to Rochdale this weekend, and Coleman admits it is a blow.
“He hurt his shoulder last week, he’s torn some ligaments in his shoulder,” he told the club’s official website. “It’s not as bad as we first feared, we’re hoping he’s going to be back in two or three weeks.”
Stanley came from behind twice to earn the draw with Oxford last weekend, and Coleman was pleased with what he saw.
“It was a cracking game, two teams playing good football and they’re probably the best team we’ve played,” he said.
“We’ve limited them to a few chances, two shots from outside the box and our keeper hasn’t made a save of any note whatsoever.
“They were better in the first half, we were a little hesitant and we didn’t really get to grips with how they moved the ball, they started the brighter and they pressed us better.
“I thought we were absolutely magnificent in the second half, I’m really proud of the lads and the lads should be proud of themselves. We’ve scored two good goals, we’ve hit the woodwork twice.
“They’re a good team and to finish the way we did shows we’re going in the right direction. You can’t legislate for them taking the lead with a 30-yarder into the top corner, it’s a great strike by (Cameron) Brannagan.
“Five minutes earlier, Sam’s three inches away from doing the same and that’s just the way the luck of the draw goes at the moment.
“That same post was hit by Blackpool in the last minute against us, it hits the post and it goes in, our one hits the post and goes out.
“You can be the best manager in the world but unless you’re lucky, you haven’t got much of a chance.
“Offrande Zanzala was like a breath of fresh air when he came on, it’s good to be able to have another option which we haven’t always had in the past.
“He was electric in the second half, he scored a good goal and was instrumental in everything we did going forward, he worked his socks off along with everybody else.”
Stanley are in 18th position ahead of Saturday’s game, one place above Rochdale, who head into the match on the back of three straight league defeats, including a 3-2 loss at Wimbledon over the weekend.