Reds’ recovery
SKY BET LEAGUE TWO STANLEY........................... 3 PORT VALE ....................... 2 SHELDAN KEAY
ACCRINGTON Stanley produced a fantastic second half comeback as they recovered from 2-0 down to beat Port Vale on Saturday.
The Reds were trailing at half-time after Tom Pope and Michael Tonge netted for Port Vale, but two goals from Sean McConville along with a strike from Billy Kee helped Stanley turn things around and come out on top at the Wham Stadium.
The win leaves Accrington third in the League Two table, two points behind second placed Notts County with two games in hand.
Manager John Coleman was delighted with the comeback, and insists that he team more than deserved their victory.
“Even in the first half I thought we were excellent. We pushed them back and got into wide areas but we didn’t create enough shots on their goal,” he said.
“We then gifted them the first goal and we didn’t think it was a foul for the free kick for their second, so somehow we are 2-0 down at half-time even though we had the lion’s share of the game.
“There were some harsh words at half-time, and we scored three good goals in the second half.”
It was a nightmare start as Port Vale managed to take the lead after just three minutes.
David Worrall’s cross into the box was met by Pope, who headed past Aaron Chapman.
The Reds tried to hit straight back, with Kayden Jackson causing plenty of problems for the opposition, but he couldn’t find the net with any of the threatening attacks.
Ben Richards-Everton almost equalised when he got on the end of McConville’s corner just after the half hour mark, but headed narrowly wide.
Accrington were then dealt a blow when Port Vale doubled their lead just before half-time, as Tonge’s free-kick on the edge of the box was fired into the bottom corner to make it 2-0 at the interval.
Stanley knew they had to make a fast start to the second half to give them any chance of staging a comeback, and they managed to do just that when McConville pulled a goal back on 51 minutes.
Good work from Kee saw him hold the ball up well inside the area, before passing to McConville to smash into the