[choirboy]

'Twas an important three points won last night against an unlucky Crewe side IMHO.
They deserved a draw at the very least and could easily have come away with a win.
For a neutral watching the game last night it must have been a pleasure to watch as two teams came out trying to play football on a 'Zippy' pitch with the blades of grass having developed coats of wintery verglas. The air was very still and I think that it was pretty good conditions in which to try to play good football.
The first half for me was fairly equal until we scored and the first time I noted the time thirty minutes had indeed flashed by. There is an old saying..."Time flies when you are enjoying yourself".
I felt that we needed to up our game, in order to take more control from the off in the second half, but it was Crewe who stepped it up and they played some classy passing football right out of Coley's training/playing manual! They were unlucky not to score at least one goal. I think that one or two of our players looked a bit tired after their efforts on Saturday at Coventry. I was really impressed by their Number 20 Kirk and Number 30 Green who persistently 'sliced' their way through our midfield throughout the second half. It was a good job that Chapman was on his toes, that all four of our defenders were strong and that Crewe did not have a clinical finisher up front or the result would have been different.
Yes all of our back four had good games as they were exposed to attacks far more than they should have been by our weaknesses in midfield. Clarke had a pretty good game again and it was his persistence and accurate final pass that set up Jackson for his well taken goal. Jackson was a bit inconsistent and he was frustrated by his pace being matched by the Crewe left back who was pretty quick in the chase. We definitely missed Sean Mac's attacking threat but also his defensive work that he employs in midfield. I think that we also missed the calmness and control that Seamus Coneely gives. In the last twenty minutes not only were Crewe passing their way through our midfield but also that we started to forget that we had midfield players because we reverted to some desperate 'Hoof ball' upfield to 'No one', as we desperately defended our one goal lead.
It was resolute defence though and a display of the type of 'Character' that a team needs to win promotion.
In other words......."To show the character to WIN even when you don't play well".

I hope that Crewe can score some goals and that they stay up as it would be a shame for such a cultured footballing side to be relegated.

Finally, a word on the sporting manner in which the match was played.
Only twelve free kicks awarded. Nine against Stanley, (most of which came late in the match when we were desperately defending our narrow lead) and just three against Crewe.
A neutral would have certainly enjoyed the match as a feast of good football but for both sets of supporters it must have felt somewhat different........
Very nervy for the Stanley Faithful.....
Very Frustrating for the Crewe Followers.

ON STANLEY ON
KEEP THE RUN GOING BOYS
KEEP THE FAITH

ps Did anybody notice that there was a referee and two linesman watching the match?