Away day blues hit home again for Reds
ACCRINGTON Stanley’s troubles on their travels continued as they lost 4-0 to ten-man Portsmouth at Fratton Park.
The Reds have now lost five away games on the bounce and would have expected more with Pompey down to ten-men for almost 70 minutes.
But Portsmouth, who will hope to make a late charge for the Play-Offs, were clinical and John Coleman will be frustrated as his side conceded two goals from setpieces.
The Reds boss made three changes from the 3-2 victory over Wycombe with Josh Woods making his first EFL start.
Yeboah Amankwah came in for the suspended Mitch Clark while Seamus Conneely was back in the starting XI.
Stanley started well as, in the first minute, a chip from Sean McConville was only narrowly over the crossbar and two minutes later, from a corner, Conneely’s shot was also close.
Portsmouth took the lead on 16 minutes when Mahlon Romeo spun in a cross and George Hirst got to the ball first and tucked it into the bottom corner of the net.
Pompey were reduced to 10 men on 21 minutes when Marcus Harness was shown a straight red card for violent conduct, following a tackle on Ross Sykes.
Stanley were unable to capitalise immediately on the man advantage and Portsmouth made their next chance count on 28 minutes. A Ryan Tunnicliffe corner was headed home by Sean Raggett.
On 33 minutes, Coleman took off defender Amankwah and put on winger Rosaire Longelo as Stanley looked to get back in it.
And towards the end of the half, the Reds pressed with a Woods strike saved by keeper Gavin Bazunu,
Matt Butcher’s effort was deflected wide and Longelo’s shot was through a sea of bodies but Bazunu managed to keep it out.
Harry Pell came on at the break for Conneely as Stanley looked to boost their attack against the ten-men.
Colby Bishop had an early header in the second half which tested Bazunu and Coleman made his final substitution when Tommy Leigh came on against the club which released him aged 16.
Stanley continued to press, Michael Nottingham drilling a long range effort just wide, but they were 3-0 down on 56 minutes when another Tunnicliffe corner was headed home by Hirst for his second of the game.
The Reds tried to get back in it and Bishop was desperately unlucky not to get one back on 66 minutes and, in the ensuing goalmouth scramble, Sykes’ final shot was offtarget.
It was four on 69 minutes when the ball was cut back by Aiden O’Brien to
Tunnicliffe and he fired past Toby Savin.
Stanley continued to press but Ethan Hamilton rifled an effort over the bar while Bishop’s effort was straight into the keeper’s arms to end a disappointing day for the Reds.
Coleman had touched on the issue of away form in the build up to the game, saying: “When we go away, we try to do things as well as we can, sometimes we train on the ground and then travel, sometimes we train on the way.
“You are always trying to find a way that gets you into the best condition you can for the game on Saturday.
“You have to be careful you don’t get caught up in superstition, ‘we didn’t do this and we won so we won’t do it’ - it’s a load of nonsense.
“We have got to get it out of our heads and go there believing we are going to win, we did last year and I know we are capable of winning.
“You have got to ignore the away record, we have been doing it for years. If you start talking about it you start thinking about it so we have to put it to one side and focus on how we play, getting our game plan right, our style of play right and what we are going to do, people’s individual jobs nailed down and if you spend enough time thinking about them you will forget about everything else.”