Two minute guide to: Accrington
We take a quick look at Saturday afternoon’s visitors to Vale Park – Accrington – with another of OVF’s two minute guides to the opposition.
Man in charge
Accrington started the season with Paul Cook in charge only for Cook to up sticks and take over at Chesterfield in October. His successor is Leam Richardson, the former Blackpool and Accrington midfielder, who initially took over as caretaker before being given a two and a half year contract in November. He has been in charge for 14 games, winning four, drawing six and losing nine.
Look out for…
Veteran striker James Beattie joined Accrington back in November and has found the target three times in nine league starts. However, he is on somewhat of a barren run with no goals in his last six appearances.
The last time we met…
Vale’s first league away game of the season was a trip to Accrington. The Valiants suffered a 2-0 away defeat back in August thanks to goals from Padraig Almond and James Gray.
Overall record
The two sides have met 22 times with Vale winning 11, Accrington winning six and there have been five draws.
Featured connection
John Durnin (right) is one of a select band of players to appear for both clubs. Durnin was a veteran, aged 36, when he was signed by Vale boss Brian Horton. The move proved a decent one with Durnin staying for a further 18 months in a playing and coaching capacity. He then moved on to Accrington where he played until retiring, aged 39, in 2004.
Connections
Other players to appear for both clubs include Joe Barr, Harry Anders, Sean Doherty and Mark Boyd.
Team news
The Valiants are likely to be unchanged with Lee Hughes, Darren Purse and Daniel Jones set to make their home debuts. Vale will be missing injured trio Joe Davis, Louis Dodds and John McCombe (right) but all three would not have expected to have started the game anyway.
Accrington have all four deadline-day signings available for the game. Defenders Nicky Hunt and Mark Hughes, plus keeper Paul Rachubka, all joined Stanley on loan, while Tom Aldred has signed until the end of the season.
Pre-match quotes
“It’s going to be a tough game but, for whatever reason, we seem to do quite well against the so-called better teams in our league and some of the results we’ve picked up against the top six or seven have been encouraging. We’re going there on a big pitch, will try to get he ball down and play as we like to and hopefully we can get another positive result.”
– Accrington skipper Luke Joyce
“We will pick a side accordingly and, as I said, the onus is on us to go and attack them. What we have got to do is move the ball early, set a high tempo in the game and take our chances when they come along.”
– Vale manager Micky Adams
