Reds close in on Wembley debut
ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman is convinced that his side is now more than capable of going all the way to Wembley after they overcame Fleetwood Town to reach the EFL Trophy quarterfinals.
The game finished 2-2 at Highbury after Ross Sykes scored a stoppage time equaliser for Stanley, going alongside Joe Pritchard’s opener and second half strikes from Fleetwood’s Josh Morris and Danny Andrew.
It then went to penalties, with Stanley coming out 5-3 winners during the shootout, and Coleman doesn’t see any reason why his side now won’t reach the final.
“It’s my personal opinion, but I said before the game I thought the team which wins will go to Wembley,” he said.
“We are one of just two EFL teams who haven’t been to Wembley and it would be a real feather in our cap if we could do it.
“The wind and the conditions were very difficult in the game.
“Both teams tried to play, but I thought Fleetwood were probably the better side on the balance of the 90 minutes. I thought we were fortunate to go into half-time with the lead, and then we conceded a sloppy set-piece and they score and then score again.
“We equalise and it goes to penalties, and that’s always a toss of a coin.
“We practised penalities in the warm-up. Got a lot of the lads taking penalties and the goalkeeper gave me a masterclass the other day on how to take them, so I had no qualms on Joe Bursik taking the first penalty.”
While it was a positive night for Stanley, there has been some frustration this week after it was revealed winger Sean McConville is out for the rest of the season after he had to have an operation on his snapped Achilles.
Striker Colby Bishop is still struggling with his back injury, while Billy Kee is still absent and loanee Courtney Baker-Richardson is injured too, so Coleman admits he may delve into the transfer market this month.
“We have one or two injuries and we are a bit thin on the ground with our attacking options. We will look to address that in the transfer window,” he said.
“Billy and Courtney were big figures in our initial plans for the season and it is difficult as we haven’t got the funds to keep replacing players and we are still paying them.
“I hope to bring fresh faces in but a lot depends on players, agents, clubs and so on. We have set the wheels in motion to try and do a few things.
“If we are up against other clubs in terms of finances then we will miss out, what we can offer is ambition and the ability to develop players and move them on. That’s where we are.”