Stanley’s derby joy, Shrimps seeing red
ACCRINGTON Stanley took the derby day spoils in a game that left plenty of talking points.
Goals from Billy Kee and Jordan Clark earned Stanley the victory with Kevin Ellison’s injury-time header proving a mere consolation for Morecambe, who felt hard done by with Vadaine Oliver’s 56th-minute red card for a tackle on Kee.
No one can argue, however, that Stanley created the better chances and could have won the game by a greater margin.
Boss John Coleman said: “It was a good win and a great three points against a good side.
“I can’t say I enjoyed the game though, because it was a bit tighter than it should have been. And although I’m happy with the win I’m not happy that we missed as many chances as we did.
“We missed four glorious chances and could have been three up before we did score. We need to do better in that area if we want to be a top team because Morecambe were always in the game when they should have been out of it.
“We have to be more ruthless and see sides off when we get the chance if we want to win promotion.”
Morecambe boss Jim Bentley said the sending off was a big decision but also felt his side should have had two penalties.
He said: “There were talking points and the sending off will be heavily discussed.
“Another referee may have thought it was a good tackle but there are that many rules about tackling now that it is hard to know what is a red card and what isn’t.
“At the same time we definitely had two stone wall penalties turned down and that was really disappointing.’’
Stanley wasted two early openings with Kee firing wide from eight yards when unmarked and skipper Seamus Conneely volleying over.
Kee found his range on the half hour, however, with a superbly struck shot from 25 yards that beat Barry Roche low to his right. Morecambe hit back with Garry Thompson seeing a shot superbly blocked by Farrend Rawson before Sean McConville fired over for the visitors after the break.
Oliver’s red card seemed to give the ten men of Morecambe a lift and they piled on the pressure but Accrington always looked dangerous on the counter and added a second when Clark slotted home Kayden Jackson’s perfect cross.
Ellison made it a nervous finish when he headed home Elliott Osborne’s far post cross, but Stanley held on.