Coleman: "Crawley play the type of football I like"
Two sides in the top six of the form table are in action tomorrow. Both Reds and Accrington have won four and lost two of their six. Stanley’s two defeats came against ourselves (3-2 on December 23) and 3-1 to Carlisle on Boxing Day. Since then they have won four in a row, beating Grimsby, Chesterfield, Cheltenham and Port Vale, whom they defeated 3-2 last Saturday after trailing 2-0 in the first half. Based over the last ten matches, Reds are fifth and Accrington eighth.
Stanley boss John Coleman (pictured) first managed the club in 1999. He led the club to three promotions including a return to the Football League before leaving in 2012. He then had spells in charge of Rochdale, Southport and Sligo Rovers before returning to Accrington.By the end of this season he will be closing in on 800 games as Stanley boss and is the third-longest serving manager in League 2 behind Paul Tisdale and Jim Bentley. He has a win percentage of 41% as a manager.
Coleman is expecting a good contest for the fans tomorrow. “I’d like to think we’ll give a better account of ourselves in the first half on Saturday than we did in that game!” he said. “I watched Crawley on Tuesday at Notts County and at this moment in time they are one of the best teams in the league. If they’d got this run going at the start of the season they would be right up there. They play the type of football I like, so it should lend itself to a smashing game because neither side wants to lump it. They are the type of games we tend to thrive in.”
Reds have never beaten Stanley at home in the Football League. Our first meeting in the 2011-12 campaign ended in a 1-1 draw with Hope Akpan getting our late equaliser after coming off the bench in front of a crowd of 2897. It wasn’t until September 2015 that the sides met again when Stanley won 3-0 here in front of 1659. Last season’s game finished 0-0 with 2092 in attendance.
With 15 goals so far in the League, ex-Leicester forward Billy Kee is Stanley’s goal threat. But look out for Kayden Jackson, who has nine goals and skipper Sean McConvile, whose double last Saturday helped his side to come from behind in their win over Port Vale.
