Accrington Web - One person's view of the Dagenham game.

Having witnessed Stanley at Dagenham I wrote this to a friend. You may wish to read it. I did omit D'Sane's contribution which was excellent in the short time he had on the pitch.

‘I can be somewhat pessimistic about Accrington ’s performances. It is not always unfounded pessimism. Today, the team started well. I have never seen such a positive start. We actually looked good. If I was a neutral supporter I would think, WOW ! Then a sublime moment occurred. One that will live with you. We executed a move of such speed, directness, confidence and deftness that it took your breath away [Yes, this was Accrington Stanley] It is always good to view the opposition supporters when we score. Today was no exception. Conceding a goal is never good. Conceding a stunning goal of such speed, clinical passing and with an assassin’s finish was devastating. Why devastating ? Because there is a collective realisation that if this is an example of their football, then all is lost. We are unworthy to be on the same field. Moments like these are very rare. Not unique, but very rare. The Dagenham supporters just watched in silence as their world crumpled and crashed. How could they compete if this is what was on offer ? How could they compete ? A ball close, but going wide of our goal was met by an in rushing defender who had so little room for error sent the ball high into the net. The view from the Dagenham end must have been spectacular. It was from ours. But I could not blame the player. He had done his best. In the heat of the moment his judgement was called into question. But it was a honest mistake. A sublime goal that would have graced Brazil ’s great teams had been cancelled out by an unfortunate own goal. Do you see why following a team like Accrington makes you sanguine and better able to cope with life’s misfortunes. With Accrington you can aspire to greatness but realise it is not yet your turn for it. To me they are human with all the frailties that humans show. They are not the ’plastic’ team of foreign players who play for the money. Our players receive the lowest wages in the Football League, but our players play for the ‘club’. You can therefore forgive costly, honest mistakes as you would your child. There is an adage in football. “You are most vulnerable just after you score” [technically we had just scored for Dagenham] and so it proved. We made it 2 1 almost immediately and finally 3 1 in the second half'