Ten-men hold out for a point
ACCRINGTON Stanley moved up to ninth in the Sky Bet League One table after holding high flying Lincoln City to a goalless draw at The Crown Ground on Saturday.
Stanley played over 20 minutes with 10 men after Sean McConville saw red after only being on the pitch for five minutes.
John Coleman named an unchanged starting 11 from the team that won at both Northampton and Swindon in the last 7 days. Ross Sykes and Tariq Uwakwe were still out with injury and didn’t even feature on the bench; Mo Sangare was named in the squad for the first time since pulling up in training 2 months ago.
Both teams started bright. John Coleman’s side have managed goals in the opening minutes of their last two matches and on 2 minutes almost opened the scoring once again. Matt Butcher, who has been so impressive since joining in the Summer, was able to gain some space advancing towards the Lincoln box. He curved his shot to the right of the keeper who saved well but pushed the ball into a dangerous area, Joe Pritchard picked up the loose ball and his shot was deflected and cleared from danger.
One minute later, Cameron Burgess almost gifted The Imps the lead when his misplaced back pass was collected by an aware Jorge Grant who managed to offload the ball to Conor McGrandles. His shot was cleared off the line and the resulting ball in from Grant eventually cleared by Michael Nottingham.
Lincoln looked strong on the ball and asserted some authority in the opening stages, zipping the ball around beautifully without ever worrying the Stanley back line. It was clear the 5th place side were to be a sterner test than both Northampton and Swindon had proved.
Stanley seemed sloppy and quite often in the half gave the ball away too easily, Lincoln continued to zip it around with precision. In the midst of this,
Pritchard came alive once again, with one of his trademark attempts, unlucky for Stanley, this time it sailed over the bar and Lincoln’s clean sheet was kept intact.
On the half hour mark Stanley had weathered the storm and began to create chances of their own and on 38 minutes’, as the half approached it’s twilight, Pritchard had Stanley’s best chance yet. Sloppy defending gave Bishop the ball 10 yards from goal unexpectedly, his effort was saved by Alex Palmer but the ball came out to Pritchard at the corner of the 6 yard area. Somehow the winger managed to sky his shot over the stand to save Lincoln blushes.
The half time whistle blew, and the teams were level at the break with Lincoln dominating the ball but Stanley having had the better chances in front of goal. Both Coleman and Michael Appleton had plenty to think about if anyone were to break the deadlock in the second half.
As the game restarted, both sides jostled and prodded in an attempt to fathom a chance.
On 57 minutes, Stanley had a massive let off when Lincoln should have had a penalty. Brennan Johnson, who had come onto the pitch at the break, found space down the right-hand side and galloped into the Red’s area. Cameron Burgess was always second favourite to get there and swung his right foot forward to make the tackle, clipping the attacker after the ball had gone out of play. Johnson fell to the floor and, incredibly, rose to see the referee, Andy Haines, brandishing a yellow card for diving.
Chances were few and far between for Stanley, but on 64 minutes Dion Charles stung the finger tips of Palmer with a bullet of a strike, Palmer was equal to it though, and sent the ball behind to where the Ultras would usually be situated.
Sean McConville replaced Jon Russell just after that to make his 309th appearance, equalling a record held in the league era by Reds legend, Andy Proctor. His manager would have been hoping for a flash of his magic that we so often have seen from the Liverpool native. His appearance lasted all of 5 minutes as he was judged to have kicked Lewis Montsma with a high boot and Stanley would face the final 20 minutes with a man less.
With a man extra and momentum in their favour, The Imps attempted to make their advantage tell on the score line. It took until 78 minutes for Lincoln to have a clear-cut chance. A lofted diagonal ball forward eluded Rodgers and was met by an on-rushing Anthony Scully. He controlled well and shot to the near post, his shot beat Savin but smashed off the woodwork, the ricochet found a Lincoln attacker who hit his strike first time, seeing the ball fly high and wide, much to the relief of the Stanley defence.
The game entered its final 10 minutes and with a man less and tired legs, Stanley were holding on for a point.
As the metaphorical fat lady readied her song Toby Savin was called upon once more when a dangerous freekick was headed goalward and he saved nicely to settle Stanley nerves.
There was still time for a final moment of calamity for Haines with the whistle. As the contest pressed beyond the minimum 4 minutes of injury time, The Visitors played the ball forward one last time, as they split the Stanley defenders and broke through on goal the referee blew his whistle in an incredibly dangerous position. There were shades of Stanley’s 2016 fixture with AFC Wimbledon when Billy Kee struck a shot into the back of the net as Trevor Kettle blew up for half-time. The away side were incensed, Stanley let off the hook.
All in all, Coleman felt his team had felt the worst of the referee’s mistakes, speaking to the press after the game he had this to stay: “The card changed the game, there was only one team in it at the time. He’s put his foot out to control the ball, there’s no contact. Then it’s backs to the wall for 25 minutes.”
Despite the mayhem, Stanley managed to hold on for their 4th consecutive league clean sheet, the last time they achieved this dating back to the Conference winning season of 05/06. The stalemate was the first draw of the season for the team, and the first time the points have been shared in a match at home in over 12 months.
Once again, there was little rest for Stanley as they welcomed Crewe Alexandra to the Crown Ground on Tuesday evening. The Reds have had the edge in the fixture most recently, wining the last 4 League meetings of the sides before Tuesday, whilst Alex knocked Stanley out of the FA Cup last season in the first round.