Latest / Blood, Sweat & Gills / Voice Notes: Accrington Stanley 3-1 Gillingham
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- Voice Notes 011 Accrington A: Welcome to Jill's 365 Voice Notes. Please leave your message after the tone. Just gone half past five. At Atlington Stanley. I think it's fair to say that today I'm travelling where expectation trumps hope. And that's for a couple of reasons. Our form barring the the York defeat is very good. away form is decent, we're scoring goals, we sit fourth fifth in the table and we're playing a side who are well below us in the league. You know, not to underestimate Atkinson Stanley, but I think we're the better side. and also our record. at Actington is very good in recent years and pretty good actually overall. six wins in 13 visits and I think we're unbeaten there in something like our last eight visits. so I think we should be approaching the game with confidence which is maybe not a good sign but I really think the way we're playing and the quality of players that we have, if we play anywhere near to our potential, I think we should win. And that's why today I'm going for a 2-1 Jills away win. Morning all, six o'clock, cold, dark, windy. But how good is it to be looking forward to football matches and not worrying about having to get up at ungodly hours to travel to the arse end of the north of England to watch our club? Accrington today is the destination. Really looking forward to this one. Absolutely no reason why we can't go up there and win. Similar to last Saturday, I think Aki are unbeaten at home but struggle to win. Gilliam travel up off the back of that brilliant 4-1 victory in Rotherham. So I am feeling fairly confident today. Arrive safely at the Wham Stadium. Very chilly here, dry. bit of sunshine i think we've sold about 250 odd tickets i thought we'd be selling a bit more than that but there you go it's a long way isn't it and it comes on the back of a an away game last week so maybe people are watching the pennies teamews is in it's unchanged starting 11 and again you know if it ain't broke and all that so why why would you change it on the bench We've got McCleary back. McManus has travelled, but it's a spare. And talking to people before the game, I think there's an air of quiet optimism and confidence about today, given where we are in the league, how we're playing, and our record at Accrington. So I think we're still all of the opinion that we really ought to get something today's game. But this is League Two football, isn't it? Not as straightforward as all that. but let's see what happens. No surprise that there's no changes to the starting eleven after a 4-1 win in Yorkshire last week. Just one change on the bench. Gareth McCleary returns to the match day 18 at the expense of Cameron Antwey. Con McManus is here as a spare. But yeah, can't really change anything, can we, in terms of that first eleven after the way we dismantled Rotherham's second period last week. Haven't seen the Accrington team, but not worried. At the moment it's all about what we do, and I'm confident that if we get things right and earn the right to play, then we can get something from this game. Love's got that ball on the right hand side, puts that ball forward. Jill should collect this one. my goodness me, what has gone on here? And it's in the back of the net, and it's a real calamity defensively and a needless goal to concede as well. Well, that's not the start we wanted. Another offensive catastrophe here between Little and Wright as gifted Atkinton the lead. just a pure error between the two. And Nothing more to be said, Ruth, it's really disappointing. One-kneel down, and dare I say it's the same pattern as Rotherham last week. So fingers crossed that's the Omen, but it's an absolute catastrophe of a goal to concede again. And we said that seven days ago. Looked to be very little, if any, danger. And in a Marnie Little and Ollie Wright got in and all sorts of a mess between them. And it's left Stefan Moles to roll it in from a couple of yards. Yeah, work to do all of a sudden, having settled fairly well. Moles at the corner right aside for Atkinson. 28th minute mark is delivered into the box head towards goal and it's in the back of the net and Jill's defensively are absolutely woe for today. 2-0 down and we're getting everything we deserve at the moment because we have not been good enough. And like the first goal, this is too easy again. Corner from the right hand side out swinging. Josh Woods just walks behind Andy Smith. No challenge. Heads it past Dolly Wright, gets the hands on it, but ends up in the roof of the net. Loads of work to do. Jill's switch the ball over to the right hand side. We need to find a goal somewhere that goes into the box and not a bad ball in. Come on! that is such a naughty goal! That first time crossing the box from the right hand side was absolutely perfect! Well, it's all happening here at the Wham Stadium. we go two goals behind. another dreadful cold concede. three header from a corner. And Then out of absolutely nothing, we've scored. I must admit, it's down the other end. I didn't really see what was going on. Looked as scrappy affair, but somehow we are just now 2-1 down. And in fact, before we got one back, it also had been 3-0. but Atkinson Stanley made a complete hash of what was a very presentable chance. Gotta be honest, we're not playing well at all individually or collectively. I think it's one the worst displays I've seen so far. This season we just we you know we just haven't started at all. you know we ought to be playing a lot better than this, we're not, and long way to go. But hopefully with getting this goal back, we can get back into this game now, get the equaliser, and then go on and get the three points. It's half time here at the Wham Stadium. We're 2-1 behind. yeah, Accrington Stanley being by far the better side in my opinion. we haven't played well. The formation today isn't working. The ball's coming back far too much. It's not being held up at all. Hale has been largely anonymous. Little on a booking, very, very lucky not to be sent off towards the end of the first half. Personally, I would make changes at half time. I would take little off, bring on Dak, move Bulldog back into the middle of the park. Don't want to see Eves on, gives themselves the target up front, and hopefully he can hold on to the ball where Silla can't. The only good news is it's only 2-1 down. It could have been far worse. not a good performance, and it's got to be improved in the second half. Just another thought about the the first half performance. I think it's quite noticeable that Accrid and Stanley seem to be targeting Dobbs as the weak link in the defence. Again, he's looked a little bit shaky, a little bit nervous. Perhaps that's just kind of due to him being inexperienced and we've just got to accept in his journey he's going to have a few off days, but it is very clear they're playing the long diagonals between him and Brothy. I don't know whether a change is required there because the replacer will be Daly who equally is a young defender learning his trade. And I don't think we've seen enough of Daly to say that he's going to be an uplift on Dobbs. Corner for Acton, the far right hand side, outswings the box. Jones. it's a good header, but it's two times that Jills have been undone from a corner and a header. And I have to say, Accrington have been really turning in the screw and are worthy of their 3-1 lead. But it's gotta be honest. And say that was Pretty poor performance and that's probably being generous. Didn't lay a glove on them. Agmouth and Stanley were better in all departments, completely deserved their win. And perhaps you can almost argue that the scoreline flattered us. We were never in the game. reality check today. it's gonna be a long, hard season. You can't win every game, I know. I was surprised last week about the size of our win. Today I was surprised about the margin of defeat and the manner in which it was suffered. And that is probably Worst performance I've seen all season, and I would suggest it is worse than York. And as I say, Accrington Stanley got exactly what they deserved, and we got exactly what we deserved. We move on to Port Bale on Tuesday. So it was just a bad day at the office up at Accrington today, and you know it's one of those things is that you can There's gonna be games throughout the season where you just don't turn up and it will happen at home and it'll happen away. And I think you just have to accept that that will happen. But the problem is you just don't want to make a bad habit of it. And 'cause th because no one today got did anything which was worthy of getting a victory. I mean, the only good thing was literally the goal, and I think the pass that went over to Freeman from Little was was heavy, but good. But Freeman's like volley cross into the box probably was the best thing that Jills had. from from this game today. So for me it it's totally deserved. Woods was brilliant, the thirty nine for for Akronton getting two goals. Probably unlucky enough to get hat trick actually and if he did he would have deserved it and Akron deserved the three points that they got as well. It's just how we react from this and just don't make a bad habit of this and and and don't try and don't don't use this as a as a gateway into into making a rut of of of performances and just trying to find a way back into getting a winning mentality again as we play Port Fow on this Tuesday night. But yeah, a very nondescript and un uninspiring game from a Gillingham perspective day. But all credit to Akronton. Totally deserve the three points and we're worthy for all of them. So on to the next one. I just think the the next two games at home just we've got to get four points. And I think we forget about the Akron game entirely. You know, and and we start that. Progress or something to look forward to that. On Tuesday night, fool's already a long way away, that four one winner at Robin, doesn't it? Anyway, yeah, just a bad day at the office today.