Coleman’s delighted at Stanley showing
ACCRINGTON Stanley manager John Coleman was left wondering what could have been as his side were just the width of the post away from a deserved cup upset.
Stanley trailed to a firsthalf goal from Yeovil defender Jordan Clarke but responded brilliantly and levelled after the break with a goal from Tom Aldred.
And it was the hosts who came closest to a winner with Shay McCartan’s header hitting the post and Piero Mingoia seeing his shot cleared off the line by Stephen Arthurworrey.
Coleman knew his side deserved more and said:“I thought we were fantastic.We were on top for 75 minutes and only scored one goal. How? I don’t know.
“It was a great game to watch, a smashing cup tie and a great advertisement for the FA Cup, for the passion that is shown at the lower level for it.
“The players were tremendous. Some of the football was breathtaking and but for the width of a post we’d be in the next round.
“When we play like that we look like a good side and I’m delighted considering we had four of our players struggling with illness this week. They were superb.”
For Yeovil, struggling near the bottom of League One, it was a narrow escape against a team in the division below, and boss Gary Johnson knew it.
“I thought that in the second half we were really poor, in terms of both performance and effort,” Johnson said.“It was one of our worst cup displays.
“Credit to Accrington because they played well, shut us down and played some decent football going forward as well.
“Our goalkeeper made some good saves in that second half and it was good that we were a goal up from the first half.
“The lads know we’re disappointed and although we are still in the cup, we can’t make that too big a positive. We’ve just got to make sure we’re ready for the replay at Huish Park.”
Kal Naismith and Matt Crooks both came close to an opening goal for Stanley before Yeovil went ahead against the run of play.
Sam Foley swung over a free-kick and Clarke reacted quickest to steer the ball past Jack Rose for his third of the season.
Accrington responded well and Andy Procter forced a good save from Jed Steer before Aldred pulled his side level with a composed finish.
Arthurworrey had already cleared off the line from Mingoia when Accrington came even closer to a winner on 85 minutes. This time Mingoia sent over a cross and McCartan was left unmarked inside the sixyard box but could only head against the post.