Next Up: Accrington Stanley at Home

What a difference a week makes. Two stunning victories, including the sweetest of all, winning in Cornwall, have brought a fresh wave of optimism to City and Paul Tisdale’s side knows that a win on Saturday will effectively kill off talk of dropping back into the non-league abyss. One aspect that has been noted about City’s recent upturn is that Tisdale has hit upon a settled side, and with that in mind he may be tempted to stick to the team that started both victories. Matt Grimes in particular is pushing for a start but he may have to be content with a place on the bench, while there may will still be no room in the squad for Jimmy Keohane.

Saturday’s visitors, Accrington, go into the match with similar hopes of a “season ending” victory. Sitting two places and one point behind City after a 0-0 draw at Dagenham on Tuesday night, the very fact James Beattie’s side is clear of the bottom two is something of a miracle when you consider they had just two points at the end of September, and took until October 22nd to register their first win. They go into Saturday’s match on the back of a three match unbeaten run, which included a 5-1 hammering of Morecambe. Joint top scorers with nine each are defender Peter Murphy and Kai Naismith, but the danger man will be returning loanee Lee Molyneux, who has six goals in thirteen appearances since returning to the club from Crewe. Another loanee, Kayode Odejayi, is always a handful for opposing defenders.

Just prior to Christmas City made the trip to East Lancashire and raced into an early 3-0 lead (Nicholls 2 and Gow), but Murphy and Naismith reduced the deficit and a missed Gow penalty ensured a nervy finish. Last season it was Friday Night Football at the Park, with City eventually cruising to a deserved 2-0 win thanks to a double from Keohane. City have a healthy overall head-to-head lead with seven wins to Accrington’s three (one draw).

Match officials: http://www.exeweb.com/2014/03/27/match-officials-accrington-stanley-at-home-2/

Match summary from the away game: http://www.exeweb.com/2013/12/15/tisdale-on-win-at-accrington-it-was-a-terrific-game/