Accrington Observer

DARE TO DREAM

The FA Cup has had its magic ques-

tioned and its impor-tance examined, but for Accrington Stanley the stakes have never been higher. After a second round stalemate with Yeovil Town, the Reds have banked them-selves a potential home tie against Manchester United, which would be the biggest match since the club reformed in 1968. The competition has had little opportunity to be kind to Accring-ton in recent years, Stanley entered the hat for the second round draw for the first time since 2012 after defeat-ing Notts County at the second time of asking. A historic victory at Huish Park on Tuesday night would cement the club’s place in the third round and, more importantly, land them a dream tie against

three-time Champions League winners, Man-chester United.A victory over Yeovil could bring an invalu-able cash injection to Accrington and with attendances plummet-ing to below 1000 on more than one occa-sion this season, the financial boost is most welcomed. Accrington have had to increase their gate prices this season after failing to attract fans to the Store First Stadium with prices that would have been considered cheap at any level of the game. Therefore Peter Marsden’s back was firmly against the wall as he published an open letter to fans about the reasons behind the increase in price. Accrington Stanley’s establishment as a Football League club has yet to be realised by many townspeople, who still see Accring-ton as a spontaneous, cheap day out. How-ever, with adult prices at £20, student prices at £15 and under-18’s at £10, it is hardly the family day out that it used to be. Though complaints would be

very unjust. Last season, Accring-ton’s prices were the lowest in the division and lower than some conference sides. The decision was made on the hope that the aver-age football fan, who may have been priced out by Black-burn and Burnley and even the top teams like Manchester United and Liverpool, would be attracted by the oppor-tunity to attend League football for a fraction of the price that some charge. Attendances failed to befit the efforts of those at the club and Peter Marsden made the bold decision to in-crease the prices, which is designed to make money off the travel-ling away fans who are

highly unlikely

to cart from the likes of Exeter and reject the ticket price. A sign of the modern game as well as the struggles of lower league football. After the draw John Coleman spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: “We have got to be realistic we have got Yeovil in the next round, as much as it is an incentive for us it is an incentive to them.“But I don’t think you will get a game that has got more riding on it, we will give it our best shot and hope we can get that glamour tie.”Regardless of who hosts Louis Van Gaal’s side, the resulting third round game be tele-vised on BT Sport with Accrington potentially banking £140,000 from the television company.

The staff and fans of

Stephen O’Mara

Stanley’s FA Cup Dream

Andy Gouck fired a last minute winner against Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup First Round in the 2003/04 seasonPictures: Lancashire Telegraph

The staff and fans of

Accrington will be con-fident of a sell-out at the Store First Stadium, which holds over 5,000 people. Hypothetically speaking, if Accring-ton overcome Yeovil and manage to take the Red Devils back to Old Trafford then the revenue obtained, estimated to be around £250,000, would keep Stanley afloat for the season, at least. The FA Cup is hardly unchar-tered territory for Accrington Stanley and has been the catalyst in some of the club’s big-gest nights, especially in the 2003-04 season when they reached the coveted third round for the first time in their history. A first round victory over Hudders-field Town after a last-minute, memora-

ble strike from

super-sub Andy Gouck and another giant killing of AFC Bournemouth in a penalty shoot-out sent Accrington to Col-chester United in the third round. It was at the then named Layer Road that Accrington’sfairy tale ended. In the 2009/10 season Accrington fought their way into the fourth round of the compe-tition on the back of victories over Salis-bury City, Barnet and Gillingham. The fourth round rewarded them with a home tie against the then Premier League regulars, Ful-ham. Michael Symes levelled the score at 1-1 that day, before Ac-crington were reduced to ten men and lost the game 3-1.

It was in the famous cup run of 2003/04 that Accrington managed to have their first tele-vised match since they reformed 46 years ago, with the BBC televis-ing the home fixture against Huddersfield. Accrington will now look to earn only theirsecond televised game in two seasons when they go up against Gary Johnson’s Yeovil on Tuesday night. The fixture has encour-aged many to travel to hopefully have their “I was there when…” moment and the town of Accrington has had its mind on one thing over the course of the last ten days.Fans have decorated local pubs with ban-ners of “ASFC” and the town is jubilant that, for some, their hometown team and the club in which they support will be going toe-to-toe on their front doorstep. But not everybody will have such ease in choosing their allegiances. None other than Sir Alex Fer-guson is a shareholder in Accrington Stanley, with the team he has invested in coming up against the side he led to twenty league titles he will certainly have at least one eye on the tie. One man’s allegianc-es who will not be put into question is Accrington’s defend-er Nicky Hunt, who made his debut at Old Trafford 11 years ago

for Bolton Wanderers. Hunt will be relishing the opportunity to go to war with the Red Devils once more as he looks to help his side walk out of Huish Park victorious on Tuesday night and believes Sat-urday’s win at Fratton Park stands them in good stead. Speaking to the Lanca-shire Telegraph, Hunt said: “There’s no hiding the fact that tonight’s game is probably one of the biggest games in the club’s history,“But Saturday has put us in an amazing stead to go there and cause an upset. We think we can win. “Yeovil won’t underes-timate us, I think they incredibly underesti-mated us when they came here and I don’t think they’ll do that again. “It will be a difficult task, but we thrive on difficult tasks.”The last time Accring-ton and United locked horns was in the 1946 FA Cup, in which Ac-crington grabbed a 2-2 draw to then lose 5-1 in the replay. But all eyes are on Tuesday night as Accrington, who will look to find the win-ning formula to cast a victorious spell to bring the magic of the cup back to the Store First Stadium in the most emphatic fashion, by reaching the third round for the first time in four years.

Andy Gouck fired a last minute winner against Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup First Round in the 2003/04 seasonPictures: Lancashire Telegraph

Accrington Observer

Andrew Procter celebrates with youth graduate Marcus Carver, who netted the winner against Notts CountyPictures: Kipax.com

Procter Eyeing Second Bite at Round Three

Ahead of Accrington’s clash with Yeovil Town on Tuesday night, formerskipper Andy Procter hopes experience will benefit him at Huish Park.Procter was a starter in the team that overcame Bournemouth in a tense penalty shoot-out back in 2003. The 31-year-old hopes that his experience of getting into the cov-eted Round Three of the FA Cup will aid Stanley on Tuesday. “It doesn’t seem like 11 years ago!” He said.“That was one of the best

nights of my first spell at Stanley. To win it on penalties and to get into Round Three was un-precedented for a club of our size” Accrington at the time were in the Conference Premier, now named the Vanarama Conference and Bournement were situated in League One. “To beat a team two divisions above us showed what this club is about and will always be about.”“Over the years I’ve no-ticed that the club thrives off conflict and Accring-

ton seems at its best when its back is against the wall.”The club has tried to fend off talk of a dream home tie with Manchet-er United and Procter insists that the player’s minds are firmly set on Yeovil. “It’s a strange one really, drawing [Manchester] United on Monday put everybody into a false state. “We have a job to do against Yeovil to make the United game a reality and I’m very confident that, after our perfor-

mance in the first leg, we can do it.”Stanley are coming off the back of a 3-2 away victory over Portsmouth on Saturday and are in good form. Rob Atkinson and An-thony Barry picked up knocks at Fratton Park and will be assessed, with John O’Sullivan and Sean Maguire both cup tied.Yeovil romped to a 4-0 victory over Oldham Athletic at the weekend and will prove no easy test for John Coleman’s side on Tuesday night.