The Scratching Shed

Back in February, fans that travelled to Carlisle for the ill-fated JPT semi-final and the tens of thousands more watching back home, witnessed some ugly scenes as Carlisle’s celebrations were marred by several assaults on our players.

Following those scenes in February, I observed that ‘The stewarding, policing and protection afforded to our players following the JPT clash on Tuesday night was quite frankly atrocious.’ I felt that Carlisle had massively underestimated the potential for trouble at the game, and were undeniably at fault for the events that followed.

Not only were the numbers of stewards and Police too small to meet the requirements for the match, but the ones that were there did nothing to help the Leeds United players who were trying to get off the pitch. At the time, Richard Naylor was the most outspoken on this issue, quite rightly condemning the actions of those who were supposed to be there to prevent such situations.

In February, I concluded my initial rant by predicting the FA’s punishment for Carlisle would be pathetic or non-existent. Unfortunately, my prediction came true as the FA decided to put the matter to rest, claiming that Carlisle did everything in their power after the events to bring those responsible to justice. Strange, since the ones that were responsible are still being hunted.

What really irks me about all this is the unavoidable double standards of the FA. It’s something we’ve grown used to at Leeds United, but that doesn’t make it any more acceptable. My prediction that the FA would do nothing was largely based on the lack of media coverage. The FA have become the media’s plaything and only seem to act when there’s mass coverage and outrage about a given event. Since this was the Carlisle fans at fault, the media simply couldn’t care less, but I’d be willing to bet all my worldly possessions that if the boot was on the other foot, Leeds United would now be suffering the consequences.

I avoided this issue in my match report because, quite frankly, it’s news in it’s own right and goes far beyond the reaches of a 3rd division cup game. The stewarding, policing and protection afforded to our players following the JPT clash on Tuesday night was quite frankly atrocious and there’s been a queue of people from Leeds United lining up to blast Carlisle United’s poor organisation since.

I’ll start with the most opinionated of them all, which is quite obviously Uncle Ken, who pulls no punches by describing Carlisle as a ‘little club’ whose organistation was ‘very basic’. Not really controversial when you consider Ken Bates’ usual rants but I’m sure it’s upset a few people in Carlisle, as will his suggestion that the reasons behind the poor stewarding were ‘to save a few bob’. 

As someone not exactly alien to milking every available penny from whatever scenario presents itself, Ken Bates should be seen as a professor on the subject of maximising profits. For all his faults (and there are far too many to list) he’s shown his real skill in his time at Elland Road by helping our supporters lighten their pockets of those heavy notes that were weighing them down at every available opportunity.  

Ken Bates’ somewhat tactless comments may have hit the nail on the head. To be totally honest, I didn’t spare much of a thought to the stewarding until after the game, but given the over the top reaction many clubs put in place for the visit of Leeds United, it was somewhat restrained, which could mean one of two things.

• 1) Carlisle naively thought there was no real potential for trouble
• 2) Ken Bates is right and it was all about cost cutting.

I’m leaning towards the latter as Leeds United have a bad reputation in Carlisle already and anyone with two braincells to rub together could see the potential for trouble. This does mean I’m agreeing with Ken Bates, which is amongst my least favourite things (it irritates me almost as seeing Ashley Cole on the front of this mornings papers), but when a mans right, no matter how much of a distaste for him you have, you have to hold your hands up and agree.

That’s not to say I believe he’s doing this because he cares after the safety of his fellow man. This isn’t a new cuddly, caring version of Ken Bates we’re seeing. Let us not forget he once attempted to erect an electric fence around Stamford Bridge’s pitch to control the Chelsea fans. Maybe my cynicism is getting out of hand, but I can’t help thinking his motives are more to do with the possible compensation, not to mention the need to massage his over-inflated ego with another attention seeking rant.  

Grayson meanwhile was also extremely angered at the incident and says three Leeds United players were attacked while the Police and stewards were slow to react. He says he’s disappointed at the lack of protection afforded to his players and is glad the club intend to take the matter further with official complaints being made by Leeds United.

But finally – and for me, most interesting of all - we come to Richard Naylor. He attacks the stewards for making no effort to get the lads off the field and says it was stupid of them not to expect a pitch invasion. Quite right too. No matter how pointless the competition, it gives the winner the chance to play at Wembley and no matter who the fans are, they’ll celebrate afterwards.

The bit that most interested me about Naylor’s interview however was him questioning what the reaction would have been if this was Leeds United’s fans. As a lifelong Leeds United fan, Richard Naylor knows exactly how quickly we’re judged. Had this been Leeds United fans that stormed the pitch, make no mistake, it’d have been national news and we’d getting plasted from every angle and that’s the really infuriating part for me.

Whilst there was some coverage in the following mornings papers, this was nothing compared to what we’re met with when our own fans do something deemed to be unlawful. I know it’s the price you pay for being such a big club and that no one really cares about Carlisle United, but it’s not just the papers. The FA would have been making statements by now, Lord Mahwinney would be condemning our actions and everyone who is anyone would have an opinion, but because Leeds United are the victims and Carlisle the culprits, no one cares.

It’ll be interesting to see what the FA make of it all when they do decide to pay some attention to the matter. Measly fine and a statement saying ‘we hope the matter can now be put to rest’, you mark my words. That’s if Carlisle United aren’t totally cleared and the matter swept under the carpet anyway.

Won on the night, drew overall, but out on penalties. Despite a defiant comeback from a never say die Leeds United side who were unquestionaly the better team overall, it’s Carlisle that will play in this years JPT final at Wembley Stadium whilst Leeds United are dealt a bitter blow by the coin flip that is a penalty shoot-out.

I left Carlisle on Tuesday night feeling extremely bitter. The JPT for me was always a pointless competition I cared little about, but the opportunity to watch Leeds United play at Wembley once more was always tempting. My bitterness stemmed from quite possibly the worst referee I have ever seen. I usually try to ignore referee’s performances, because on the whole, the lower league ones are largely useless and both teams have to cope with their incompetence, but this referee was a special kind of moron.

Clearly, this ref had just got himself a new whistle and wanted to show it off to the 10,000 fans who he mistakenly believed had come to watch him. His whistle spent so much time in his mouth that the game hardly had a chance to flow early on, but he did seem to let up a little second half (presumably after a bollocking from someone) and the two teams were actually allowed to play football in small patches.

What was all the more irritating about this referee than the usual jobsworth was his inability to give a decision that actually mattered. If a player coughed near another one anywhere outside the penalty box then this was a definite free-kick in his mind. However, when a Leeds United player was fouled in the box for the most clear cut decision I saw all night, he gave nothing! The final blow for me though came at the very end when he decided to have the penalties taken infront of the Carlisle fans rather than at the opposite end which was split. The coin toss became a little more weighted in their direction at that point.

When the ref did stop to capture his breath, the game was actually a really good battle. The scoreline says it all really, but the comeback from Leeds United was magnificent. Both teams will be questioning some of the defending in the aftermath, most noticably Lubomir Michalik on our part who got himself two assists for Carlisle. Whenever it looked like it was over, Leeds United just didn’t give in and you could sense Mike Grella’s goal coming and just knew this was going down to the wire.

Carlisle for me didn’t deserve their place in the final, Leeds were the better team and but for some poor defending and a few dodgy decisions, we’d be playing in the most exciting JPT final the competition has ever seen infront of a capacity crowd at the national stadium. Without us, the final will hardly be thought of outside Carlisle, but we bow out of the competition with our heads held high and are now fully focused on what has been the number one priority all along. Promotion.

The ups

The fans – As always, the fans did Leeds United proud. We outsang the pitiful Carlisle fans throughout and even when our backs were to the wall facing a two goal mountain the songs just kept coming. MOT!

Never say die – The penalty shootout aside, this was a display from a spirited Leeds United who never gave up and carried on fighting no matter what the scoreline read and however stacked against us the odds were. This is the kind of display that will win Leeds United promotion, however bad the defence may be at times.

Attack, attack… attack, attack, attack! When the goals were needed and the referee kept his whistle out of his mouth for long enough and even without Jermaine Beckford (who would have probably got sent off with that ref) Leeds were good when on the front foot. Becchio should have done better with a couple of chances, but the build-up play from McSheffrey, Snoddy and Gradel was usually very good. Snoddy even managed to cross pretty well so long as the ball was moving. Corners on the other hand… Well, one step at a time…

The Downs

Luciano Becchio – Bitterly disappointed with Luci who bottled the penalty shoot-out, leaving our on-loan full-back to take the decisive penalty instead. Only one regular striker on the pitch in the absence of Beckford and he didn’t have the balls to step up and take a pen for Leeds. Whatever his reasons, he’s a striker and should always be taking them before the full-backs. Also could have done better infront of goal, but as a lone striker Grayson was asking a lot.

Max Gradel – Too much time with Jermaine Beckford has led to the youngster developing a serious attitude problem. The referee infuriated everyone, but shouting at him was never going to get you too far Max. There was one point where Kilkenny tried to calm him down only to receive a load of abuse too. His footballing display was good and he tried everything to give Leeds the edge, but his attitude overshadowed his performance. Lucky not to see a red card.

Lubomir Michalik – Dreadful. At times he made some good tackles and got the blocks in, but when taken into context with his mistakes, he was dreadful and cost us the game.

The tactics – Becchio as a lone striker? I know he’s found his shooting boots lately, but that was never a good idea. What on earth does Mike Grella have to do to get in the starting line-up at Leeds?

Leeds suffered their second defeat in a row at the hands of Carlisle United as the JPT brought an unwelcomed distraction to Elland Road. Whilst many are delighted to have knocked Manchester United out of the FA Cup and would love a trip to Wembley in the JPT, the cup runs are clearly coming at a price to Leeds United and the slump in form can only be attributed to an Old Trafford hangover added to the continued uncertainty around the future of Jermaine Beckford with Everton amongst the latest rumours.

There’s an argument that could suggest this weeks cup games give us the chance to get our poor run out of the way before getting back to League One action next week, and if that’s the case then so be it, but this was a third consecutive poor display from the Whites who look jaded and seem to be lacking in ideas at times.

It’s like watching the Leeds United side pre-Simon Grayson with us failing miserably at defending set-plays, lacking organisation in defence and fight across the pitch and failing to put away the chances that fall for us. Whilst there was a noticable improvement on Saturday’s display and Leeds were perhaps a little unlucky to lose, this still wasn’t good enough from the league leaders.

The lack of fight is what worries me the most. Complacency has definitely crept in and despite the January transfer window being open, no one seems to be fighting for the right to wear the shirt as much as they should be. To be beaten at Elland Road is bad enough, but to be beaten by a side struggling like Carlisle are and for them to control the game in large parts like they did is quite frankly embarrassing. 

I aren’t going to go through the match blow by blow, because there are so few positives to take from it. To say I’m disheartened would be an understatement, but I rest assured in the belief that Simon Grayson can turn this round. Up next is another distraction as we head to White Hart Lane in the FA Cup. I hope Simon Grayson rests the first team for this one and fields the reserves because I honestly couldn’t care less about winning it. The league is all that matters.

After the Spurs distraction, we head to Swindon back in League One. The entire teams focus should be on this game and this game alone, Tottenham is quite simply irrelevant. This form can’t continue or Charlton and Norwich will make us pay. The team need to understand that the important thing is escaping League One and forget their moment in the spotlight.

Final score: Leeds United 1-2 Carlisle United

A more in-depth match report can be found here at Travels of a Leeds fan

For the second week in a row the league leaders put on a poor show and allowed the chasing pack to close the gap further. Make no mistakes, even with a slight revival and a decent spell of pressure in the second half, this was another dismal display from Leeds.

Although it’d be wrong to start calling this a slump in form, Wycombe and Exeter are teams the title favourites should be destroying. For the team to go to Old Trafford and knock the Premier League Champions out of the FA Cup, then drop five points against lowly Wycombe and Exeter is quite frankly obsurd. It indicates that something’s wrong in the Leeds camp at the minute and given Simon Grayson’s subsequent reaction, he knows it. Whether it’s simply complacency, or an unsettled team struggling to cope with the speculation of Beckford’s departure, it needs to be resolved quickly. Even if that does mean shipping Beckford out now at whatever price we can get.

From what I’ve heard of Simon Grayson’s reaction, he didn’t sound impressed. I believe he said something along the lines of ‘the team were still in the dressing room for the first 15 minutes’ and he isn’t kidding. The team may as well have been in the dressing room for the entire fixture as I honestly believe the U18′s could have given Exeter more of a game.

Exeter came at us from the off and Leeds struggled to get a foothold. It didn’t take long for the pressure to pay off when the Leeds defence went missing and Harley met a cross to fire the home side into the lead. A sleeping defence more or less watched the ball beat Casper Ankergren then looked around for someone to blame.

Nothing improved either. Infact, our best chance of the first half was thanks to Exeter when one of their players made a mistake and had to rush back to clear his own line. Never mind though, Simon Grayson will work his magic at half time and the second half will put things right. Well, so we thought anyway.

Leeds did reappear stronger than in the first and looked to attack, but Exeter wanted it more and kept us at bay. Jermaine Beckford’s mind seemed elsewhere as he missed a series of chances. Some of which were due to good goalkeeping, but on the whole, it was simply poor finishing. It’s too easy to blame the player heading for the door though and it wasn’t just him. The defence was weak, the midfield did little to help them and the chances we did have were squandered. Even Kis had a bad game for the first time since joining Leeds.

Exeter put the final nail in our coffin with just minutes remaining when Harley finished us off with a fine strike from range leaving Casper little chance. Another case of poor defending as no one picked him up and Leeds pretty much invited him to shoot, before looking at each other puzzled as to how he’d managed to put a second by the league leaders.

Make no mistake, Exeter were good but Leeds were shockingly bad. We were out-fought, out-muscled, out-tackled and out-played. The stats show that Exeter had 61% of the possession, which comes as no surprise to me whatsoever. If anything, I’d have expected it to have been higher. Quite simply, they just wanted it more.

This result is what should have happened against Wycombe last week. Last time we lost we bounced back well, but I aren’t so sure we will this time. The players just didn’t seem interested at times. A trip to Old Trafford may well have given them all ideas above there stations and the complacency that it’s been followed by has made the victory there somewhat bittersweet for me. As great as that win was, the most important thing has always been the league and the players need to be reminded of that. Hardly the time for a JPT distraction then!

FA Cup R4 – Spurs v Leeds

The FA Cup fourth round clash will once again be shown live on ITV, making it the fourth consecutive televised tie for Leeds United (I’m counting the one shown of theFA.com as we received the television fee for it).

The game has been scheduled for a 5:15pm kick-off on January the 23rd. Leeds haven’t played Tottenham Hotspur since January 2004 when Spurs beat us 1-0 at Elland Road. Although the history of the tie shows very little between the two sides, Leeds haven’t beat Tottenham since 2001, when we beat them 2-1 both home and away.

Possibly our most historic victory over Spurs was back in 1992 when we beat Spurs 5-0. Leeds United were champions at the time and Eric Cantona scored the Premier League’s first ever hattrick.

JPT area final – Leeds v Carlisle

Dates for both the two-legged JPT area final have now been confirmed. We’ll play Carlisle at Elland Road on the 19th of January with tickets on sale today at Cat C prices. The return leg at Carlisle will take place on the 9th of February which is a Tuesday with an evening kick-off time of 19:45. With a place at Wembley up for grabs, this should be a good game.

Tamas Vasko

No, I’ve never heard of him either but if you were to believe reports in the Daily Mirror (and no one would blame you for being sceptical) he’s about to join Leeds United on-loan. Tamas is a centre-back so Leeds are presumably looking for cover for Rui Marques whilst he’s on African Nations duty.

He currently plays for Hungarian club, Ujpest Dozsa (wiki link) and has spent the last few seasons on loan, most notably at Bristol City where he made 19 league appearences and also contributed a goal.

Hi everybody, hope you’re all well and not suffering too much!

2009 was a great year for Leeds United. Although there was more play-off heartache for Leeds United fans around the world, there was also a lot to celebrate. Simon Grayson arrived and set about breaking records, guiding us to the top of League One as we look forward to a New Year, and hopefully more of the same. 2009 will undoubtedly be remembered for Simon Grayson’s arrival and the resurrection of Leeds United.

2009′s been an extremly enjoyable year for myself following Leeds United. I’ve met some great people, seen the very best of our fans, visited new grounds, new places and enjoyed every second. Invariably, every year brings with it some poor performances and 2009 was no exception. Fortunately though, for most of the year the team have performed well and we’ve been able to celebrate some fantastic results and witness some brilliant football.

So as we look forward to a New Year where Leeds United are well on track to escape the third tier, with the added possibility of a trip to Wembley in the JPT, I’d like to wish every Leeds United fan across the world a happy and prosperous 2010. Marching on together!

Christmas can often be a tough time for clubs competiting on so many fronts and Leeds United have been handed an extremely tough run of six league games and two cup games throughout the festive period.

A series of shots firing back off the woodwork and excellent saves from Kettering Town’s goalkeeper, Lee Harper made progress for Leeds United hard. It took 200 minutes for Leeds to finally make the break through when Mike Grella came on as a sub in the replay to fire us into a 2-1 lead. From there on in, the floodgates opened and Leeds United eventually progressed to the third round with a 5-1 win (AET).

That result set up a third round tie at Old Trafford with Manchester United. Maybe the War of the Roses game has been a slight distraction for us, or maybe it’s the mounting injuries and need to rotate our squad week in, week out that has led to a minor dip in League form, but so far in December, we’ve seen our lead over Charlton Athletic cut to just two points; albeit, with a game in hand.

December started with an away visit to Oldham Athletic. Simon Grayson made several changes to his squad with plenty of loan players starting the tie, including Max Gradel and Sam Vokes upfront. A cold Boundary Park had more Leeds United fans inside than it did Oldham and the lads didn’t disappoint. Max Gradel ran his heart out throughout and his persistance earnt him two assists for Neil Kilkenny and the returning Lucciano Becchio as Oldham struggled to compete with Leeds United’s second team.

Next up was the West Yorkshire derby against Huddersfield Town. Whilst Huddersfield had the best attacking record in the league, Leeds had the best defensive record. Huddersfield occupied one of the play-off places not far behind Leeds so this was never going to be an easy fixture. Leeds did manage to take the lead twice though and despite not being at their best, I felt it was two points dropped leaving Elland Road that day. I’d accept Huddersfield were probably the better team, but after taking the lead twice, I felt we should have been able to hold on, although a draw was probably a fair reflection of the game.

A rare trip to Boundary Park was next as Leeds met Brentford for the first time in almost half a century. For myself and the other travelling Whites, it was a long return home after witnessing a poor game, played on a poor pitch hindered by a poor referee. Neither team deserved to win the game, but the dismal performance set a few alarm bells ringing amongst the Whites fans. Brentford is definitely a place we should be taking three points from but never really looked like doing so and the match ended 0-0.

Our fifth game in fifteen days brought us back to Elland Road for the JPT clash against Accrington Stanley. The first competitive meeting for the two sides should have been a straight forward victory for the Whites and on paper, looks like it was. The final score of 2-0 however doesn’t tell the full story. Leeds’ defence was extremely poor throughout, leading Simon Grayson to bring Patrick Kisnorbo on with twenty minutes to ensure progression. The five man back line seemed to sort things out a bit, but Leeds had definitely rode their luck with shots coming back off the inside of the post on two occasions.

The light at the end of the tunnel is finally shining for Leeds though. With Lucciano Becchio back to full fitness, Shane Higgs and Bradley Johnson training again and the extensive injury list finally shortening, Leeds should be a stronger side for this weekends visit of Southampton.

It’s been a tough run for the Whites that’s seen the team struggle with the chaotic schedule. Our early season form was built on the consistency of the line-up, but when Larry was forced into making wholesale changes, the teams looked weakened. That said, we’re still top of the League and however poor we may have been at times, we’ve not been defeated throughout a challenging month. Although our lead has been cut from six points to two on Charlton, we’re still eight clear of third and that’s all that really matters. As nice as it’d be to end as champions, I’d take second in a heartbeat.

After Southampton this weekend, the squad finally gets a chance to regroup with no midweek fixture next week. The next game will be the Boxing Day clash against Hartlepool before we head to Edgeley Park to take on Stockport County just two days later. The final game of 2009 gives us six days to prepare for our trip to Old Trafford, where you can only hope the Manchester United players are fatigued from too much partying.

A poor run maybe and I’ll be glad when it’s over, but we’re still picking up points, still top of the league and still with a decent gap over third place. Had we been offered this at the beginning of the season, I doubt many would have turned it down.

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When Hogan Ephraim’s shot deflected in after just eight minutes, it looked like it was going to be all too easy for Leeds United, but if the opening goal was lucky, the atrocious defending that went unpunished thereafter was miraculous.

Grayson rung the changes to his side. Richard Naylor returned to the team and partnered Lubomir Michalik at the back, with Crowe and Hughes playing at full-back. On-loan Liverpool goalkeeper, David Martin made his debut and there was also starts for Hogan Ephraim, Tresor Kandol and Mike Grella.

After Ephraim’s fortuitous opening goal, Leeds never applied any real pressure. The best chances we had for the remainder of the first half fell to Kandol, who had a shot blocked by the Accrington keeper’s legs and a hopeful shot from Robert Snodgrass that went wide.

Accrington meanwhile probably had as many chances as Leeds including a free-header from a corner that their striker really should have buried. The lack of man-marking from the set-piece was a sign of things to come as the shaky Leeds defence made the game harder than it should have been.

The second half brought with it another early goal when Ephraim crossed for Kilkenny who headed home. 2-0 to Leeds and things really should have been wrapped up.

Accrington never put their heads down though and kept fighting. Had it not been for a lucky save from David Martin which flicked on to the post and came back out in to the path of a White shirt, Accrington could have been back in it. More fortune for Leeds as the woodwork came to their rescue again and the Leeds defence continued to scare the life out of the 12,000 inside Elland Road.

Grayson changed the front two with Kandol and Grella making way for Vokes and Gradel. Neither of the departing strikers will have been happy with their shift as they did little to threaten Stanley’s keeper throughout. Gradel forced an impressive save from the Accrington keeper late on, but the substitutes didn’t have much more luck than the two they replaced and Accrington continued to look the more likely to score.

Such was the state of Leeds United at the back, Simon Grayson made the decision to bring on Patrick Kisnorbo in place of Robert Snodgrass, effectively changing the formation to 5-3-2. Probably not something he’d expected to have to do before the fixture, but Naylor and Lubo just weren’t keeping the visitors at bay.

Leeds managed to escape the fixture with a clean sheet, but if todays team was supposed to show the quality of this squads depth then we have problems. I know Doyle is often seen as the weak link in midfield, but the job he does in suring up the defence is invaluable. His absence today was noticable throughout. The partnership of Lubo and Naylor didn’t work and the full-backs didn’t inspire much confidence either.

Elsewhere, Grella and Kandol never really had a chance to shoot. The difference between the two sides was only Leeds taking their chances. There were very few clear cut chances for the Whites as we rarely looked in a hurry to attack, but the ones we did have were converted. Accrington meanwhile will have been disappointed with some of their finishing, most notably the free-headet in the first half. However, they’ll also be cursing their luck with the woodwork coming to our rescue twice.

Regardless of how many changes we made tonight, we have to improve before the weekend. Southampton are a strong side and with Rickie Lambert upfront, they’ll be sure to punish such sloppy defending. The main thing is that we’re through to the final where we’ll meet Carlisle United. Although I’d have preferred to play the Leeds suburb of Bradford, we’re still in the race for Wembley and that’s the main thing.

TSS man of the match
I’m going to give it to the Elland Road woodwork tonight as without it, we’d have probably been knocked out on penalties. Hogan Ephraim deserves a shout too though. Although he did little to help out defensively (like the rest of the team) he got himself a goal and an assist, so an obvious choice.

Leeds and Accrington Stanley will tonight battle it out for a place in the Northern Area JPT final at Elland Road. Leeds come into the game on the back of two draws against Huddersfield Town and Brentford, whilst Accrington are in fine form having won their last four consecutive games.

A win for the Whites tonight could setup an area final against the Leeds suburb of Bradford. Leeds and Bradford last met in this competiton last season, when Leeds knocked the Bantams out with a 2-1 win at Elland Road. That day, Andy Robinson fired Leeds into the lead early on from the penalty spot and Becchio added a second just before half-time. Bradford did pull one back late in the second half, but it was Leeds who progressed.

Whilst Leeds have a glorious history of dominance over our neighbours, we’ve never met Accrington Stanley before in a competitive match, so they’ll be an unkown challenge as they visit Elland Road for the first time tonight.

A couple of current players share a link between the two teams. Young Scottish goalkeeper, Alan Martin was on-loan to Accrington before Shane Higgs’ injury forced Leeds to recall him and another youngster, Tom Lees is also getting some first team experience on loan to Accrington. However, I’m under the impression that there’s some kind of mutual agreement between the two sides meaning Tom Lees will not play at Elland Road tonight.

Accrington Stanley are managed by John Coleman who has been in charge at the club for 10 years. He has a pretty impressive record overall having guided Accrington to three promotions (all as champions) during his 465 games in charge. He also holds the record for the clubs longest serving manager and so far this season, his team sit comfortably in mid-table in League Two, still with an outside chance of reaching the play-offs.

Robert Snodgrass will return to the team tonight after picking up a one-match ban for five bookings so far this term. Simon Grayson has also suggested that Sam Vokes will return to the squad after being left out for the draw away to Brentford. Grayson said that the reason Vokes was missing was because he had already selected five loanees which is the maximum allowed under FA rules.

I’d be disappointed if we failed to progress tonight. Success in the JPT would mean a trip to Wembley, which would be good for the fans and just as good for the clubs finances. The possibility of a derby match against Bradford City too is hard to ignore, and after two draws in the League, we need to get back to winning ways.