Accrington Stanley 2-1 York City (29/10/05)

[Match Reports]

City played poorly against their Lancashire opponents and fully deserved the number of points they took home with them to the other side of the Pennines - none. Accrington were a useful side who played some neat football at times, but City will be disappointed that they failed to reproduce the kind of football that has taken them to second in the table. The midfield badly needed the presence of Emmanuel Panther and struggled to get into gear and keep the ball on the floor, so City's strikers had very little to work with.

Bizarrely, one of City's few chances came within just seconds of kick off. City won a free kick on the right hand side, and Darren Dunning's superbly flighted kick somehow eluded Andy Bishop and in particular Joe O'Neill who looked to be very close to it. The view wasn't particularly good but it could be suggested the Accrington born striker, whose brother Matthew featured for Stanley on their substitutes bench, should have perhaps done a little better.

The majority of the first half was generally spent in the Accrington half, but City failed to create any real clear opportunities. Key striker Clayton Donaldson was man marked out of the game, with two Stanley defenders surrounding him every time he received the ball. In fact, shortly before half time Donaldson did finally turn his markers, but was cruelly pulled back as he approached the penalty area by what some fans felt was the last defender. However, only a yellow card was awarded, and Donaldson took his frustration out on other Accrington players in the spell of play that followed.

Just before half time the home side took the lead with their first real chance. Well built former Shrewsbury right winger Steve Jagielka dribbled the ball inside and unleashed a low effort that was punched away by porter, but the ball dropped kindly for Accrington's Gary Roberts who had a simple tap in from 8 yards with defenders drawn across to the other flank. The left winger then foolishly celebrated with a gesture at the away fans which resulted in his booking. Half time 1-0 Accy.

City made a substitution just minutes into the second half, stewart replacing the ineffective Joe O'neill as City opted for some natural width on the left flank. However, to the increasing frustration of the away fans, the Reds had abandoned their free flowing football for a more direct approach and chances were few and far between for the Minstermen.

Then, Clayton Donaldson won a fortunate free kick on the left flank. Mark Convery, who had been completely anonymous until that point, curled a great ball into the back post and Andy Bishop looped a superb header over home keeper Darren Randolph into the bottom of the net.

Accrington continued to press and were increasingly playing some nice football. So it wasn't really much of a surprise when they again took the lead. Roberts, by far and away Accrington's most skillful player and the home side's Man of the Match, was put clean through down the left side of the area following some good passing by Stanley. He elected to play the ball across the goal to the unmarked veteran striker Paul Mullin, who had a very simple tap in but still needed two attempts before he could put the ball in the net for the winning goal.

City could have got something out of the game when stewart dribbled inside off the right flank and had a great effort that only just missed the corner of the goal, but despite five minutes of stoppage time being added on, City were frustrated by their inability to put together more than a couple of good passes. Tempres were beginning to boil over, even within the York side, with Mark Convery and Dave Merris having a slight altercation over a throw in. In fact, Accrington could have added to their lead when a speculative lob nearly caught porter off his line and he was forced to tip the ball over the bar for a corner.

Match Ratings

porter 6 1/2 - Unsure as to whether he could have done better with the second goal, but a fine save near the end to keep the score respectable.

price 5 - Struggled against a very tricky left winger.

merris 6 - Solid performance, however distribution was suspect.

dudgeon 6 - Did well against Mullin for the majority of the game.

mcgurk 6 - Reasonable display, usual solid performance.

convery 5 - Completely anonymous. In fact, apart from the superb free kick which led to the equalising goal, his most notable moment in the game was the throw in incident with Merris. Obviously needs a better defensive player such as Panther to allow him to play his natural game.

yalcin 4 - You'll see better passing in a Sunday League team than some of Lev's passes against Accy. Woeful.

dunning 5 - Not at his best, a couple of reasonable free kicks but some poor quality corners which is disappointing when you consider his improvement in this area this season.

bishop 7 - Man of the Match - Battled hard for every ball and an excellently taken goal. Has now scored against the last five opponents and will surely be aiming to beat the club record of scoring in seven games in a row.

o'neill 4 - Did he actually play this game?

donaldson 6 - 100% effort but just not his day. Was man marked by two Accy defenders which meant he couldn't really get going.

Substitutes:

stewart 6 1/2 - Still a tendancy to be a bit one footed but added a bit more creativity to the City attack when introduced for O'Neill. Good effort from range that could easily have gone in.

mallon 6 - Didn't really have much time to make an impact.

The Referee 7 - Contrary to what most City fans seemed to think, I thought he had a generally good game. Sensible decisions including only using the yellow card when necessary. However, he got the key decision of the match wrong - failing to see a clear foul on stewart which led to an Accy counter attack, leading to the winning goal.

Overall

City were poor and will be disappointed to be beaten, especially by one of their promotion rivals. Accrington looked a useful side, but certainly one that City at their best couldn't easily beat. City really need to bring back Panther, a far better holding midfielder than Yalcin who just didn't look up to the tough task of stemming the flow of home attacks and couldn't play the simple ball. This is especially useful away from home at sides high in the table. Hopefully the Scottish midfielder's injury will be better by the time Grays visit for the FA Cup game next Saturday. That was the difference between the sides - Accrington were the more likely to get the ball down and try to play football and effectively stop City's attacks. Joe O'Neill still looks out of place and not up to this level of football, and perhaps it is time for McEwan to try something new upfront.