Half-time blast was turning point
SHELDAN KEAY
ACCRINGTON Stanley midfielder Sean McConville says his side were always confident they could stage a dramatic comeback after their 3-2 win against Port Vale on Saturday.
The Reds trailed 2-0 at half-time at the Wham Stadium, but two second half goals from McConville, along with a strike from Billy Kee helped Stanley come from behind and claim all three points.
It leaves Accrington third in the League Two table, just two points behind second placed Notts County with a game in hand, and McConville said some stern words at half-time was the catalyst for his team’s recovery.
“We had a few words at half-time. We always keep believing and second-half we were ready to go out and push again. We’ve got the early goal and that changed the game,” he told the club’s official website. “I felt that once we got the first, we’d definitely get a second. Once we got it, the fans at that end sucked the rest into the net. Then it was whether we would push and go for that winner, we did and it was our day and another really important win for us.
“I know when Billy gets himself in the box with the ball at his feet, then he can be a handful, and I I knew that if I could be clever with my run into the box that he would be able to find me. I’ll always back myself to finish from those positions, which I thankfully I have done.”
McConville says in the future he would much rather win a game 1-0 so they can keep a clean sheet in the process.
“We prefer clean sheets. We don’t want to be winning games like that every week,” he said. “Although it’s great for the fans, it isn’t great in the gaffer and Jimmy Bell’s eyes, we want to win games by nil, but now and then you have to come through a game and show spirit, determination and fight, so it can only be a positive going forward.”