IT’S nice to say it has been a good week at the club. An FA Cup win, a JP Trophy victory and Billy Kee has shown us some awesome Salsa moves!
Beginning with the FA Cup, that was a big win for us on Saturday as it was tricky.
We didn’t play our best football but were 2-0 up and could have been more at the break. Then for some reason we took our foot off the gas and they got back into the game as we defended too deep. But this was a match we would have lost last year and we saw it out without playing particularly well.
It was nice to watch the draw and be involved and it’s good to get a home tie. Barnet will be difficult as they are going well this season but we fancy ourselves at home as we have won six out of seven games at the Crown Ground and we are confident.
Then Bobby Grant and Michael Symes linked up really well on Tuesday to see off Bury so we are in the Northern semi-finals of the JP Trophy.
They are playing really well together - they are different to probably Accrington’s strongest front partnership since I have been here in Lutel James and Paul Mullin. Lutel was all about pace and directness and these two probably have a bit more guile and craft and both are having strong seasons.
It was good a set-piece corner routine that came off again for the opener with Symesy making a late run to get a goal. Even though we got a second, we knew they would come back and it was disappointing to concede two goals the way we did.
I wasn’t particularly worried about it going to penalties despite our recent record from the spot. We have been practising them a lot in training so I had every confidence.
But we didn’t need it as we showed grit and determination to score again and now it’s three games off Wembley and the possibility of Leeds in the next round - it is exciting times.
And hopefully we can keep our home run going in the league against Dagenham tomorrow.
They are third and have done really well this season and have a good striker in Paul Benson.
I don’t want to remember the last time we played them at home last year as I had a last minute penalty saved by their keeper Tony Roberts but we do have a good record against them and hopefully it will continue tomorrow.
If we can win, we are back into the top half of the table and knocking on the door of the play-offs and so every league game is massive for us as we know, once the transfer embargo is lifted and we can get a few more players in, we can be a force to be reckoned with in this league.
I do think the players deserve a lot of credit for playing through what have been troubled times for the club and keeping everything going the right way on the pitch.
Once you cross the line, you don’t think about wages, finances etc and we have all maintained our concentration and it is paying off.
With all the rain, there have been a few different sessions for the lads with pilates being one of them. But the other day we did Salsa and all I can say is that Billy Kee has got the moves. I am convinced he has been having secret lessons as he was awesome. It was actually good for us although there were a few lads who wimped out. I won’t mention their names - yet!
PROC
