Saturday 21 November 2009
Coca-Cola League 2
Bradford City vs Accrington Stanley

A warm welcome to John Coleman, his Accrington coaching staff, players and the supporters to this afternoon's game.

I've seen them twice this season and been impressed. Jakes and I were at the home game with Crewe when they won 5-3 and then I saw them again a couple of weeks ago at Grimsby.

Again they looked like they'd got the win but big Baz scored right at the end to get a draw. Going forward they look a threat with Michael Symes scoring goals and some good young players doing well.

Just like Bournemouth last week, they've got a close-knit spirit about them which has been forged by the trouble surrounding the club. They've had the problems with the taxman and this threat hanging over them about going bust and I think that's strengthened their resolve.

In difficult circumstances like that, you get a bit of togetherness.

To be fair to John and his staff, they do create an environment where everyone's pulling together and they've got a good spirit about them. I didn't know the boy Symes from when he was here but he's obviously doing well up front. Accrington are still unbeaten here.

We've won twice at their's but they got a win and a draw here so we could do with putting that right. We know it won't be easy - and it wouldn't have been if we'd drawn each other in the next round of the Johnstone's Paint.

Accrington would have been just as tricky as Carlisle or Leeds. Going there would have held as many problems as going to either of the others. My only disappointment about our draw is that we're not at home again. But today is one we need to win.

After the Dagenham game, we looked at the fixtures and saw three of the next four were here. We beat Hereford and then drew last week so we'll be looking to take the three points this afternoon. But we'll have to be at our best.

The injury situation has not been the best but we were hoping to have a few back training with us at the end of the week. I've had to ask lads to do different jobs like Zesh playing in the middle of the park and Flynny up top and they've got on with it. We've got a good squad mentality as well.

Our biggest problem has been the bench because we've not had good forward options to change things. I'm sure in the next couple of weeks we'll have people back. But I'd like to think we'll have been able to add a fresh face on loan by today's game but we'll see.

It will be nice to welcome back Omar next week. Hopefully he can play some part of the reserve game against Rotherham on Wednesday. It's been a long road for him but he's kept his chin up and worked hard. He's also stayed mentally strong. We're pleased he is back in full training with us and it will be a good boost for him to get some of the game next week.

Enjoy this afternoon and get behind the lads.

Stuart McCall