Next Up: Accrington Stanley at Home

With a club record safely in the bag following the convincing 3-0 win at Morecambe, it’s Friday Night Football time at the Park as City welcome Accrington. The full treatment room could be a bit emptier with injured trio John O’Flynn, Alan Gow and Matt Oakley all thought to be close to a return to fitness – whether any of them are fit enough to return on Friday will be touch and go, and would provide an interesting selection headache for Paul Tisdale given the performance at Morecambe.

It’s fair to say that Accrington are now firmly in the relegation picture following a wretched run of one win in their last 13 league matches dating back to a 3-1 win at Fleetwood in November. Having lost their manager to Chesterfield, his replacement – Leam Richardson – has had a tough task on his hands trying to arrest this slide for one of the division’s smallest teams. The obvious player to watch is ex-England striker James Beattie, although his return of just four goals isn’t particularly impressive, while top scorer is Benin international Romuald Boco with nine.

The reverse fixture back in August yielded a convincing 3-0 win for City thanks to a virtuoso performance from Alan Gow that included his “rabona” goal. The last time City hosted Accrington in September 2008 City game from behind to win 2-1 with goals from Matt Gill and Ben Watson. Overall City hold the edge, with five wins to Accrington’s three and one draw.

Don’t forget that as well as taking place on a Friday night this match has been designated a “Football Against Homophobia” match.

Some numbers about the game and the 2 teams can be found here.

Match officials – http://www.exeweb.com/2013/02/12/match-officials-accrington-stanley-at-home/