We caught up with an old friend of the MKDSA for this one, if you think Accrington is a long way away, this Accrington fan lives over 3400 miles away in Toronto, Canada. We’d like to thank Tony Robinson for answering our questions.
Off the field how are Accrington doing ?
Actually, very well, we have improved the revenue streams due to the new hospitality and sports lounges. Andy Holt has invested millions into the ground so it’s now a proper small stadium. We have a great Supporters Trust that works great with the club. Plus we aren’t carrying any debt.
Along with Forest Green you have one of the smallest followings. Is that starting to make it harder and to compete?
Stanley has always struggled with crowd sizes as we are geographically in the middle of Burnley and Blackburn so when we are at home one of them are as well. It’s tough competing with two championship teams. Our season ticket base is actually growing and we have a solid two thousand regular home fans. About five years ago Andy Holt started a shirt giveaway to all year three students in the Hyndburn region and we are starting to see results in the stands with more younger fans turning up.
You appear to be having a goalkeeping crisis at the moment. Have you got one for Saturday?
Yes, we are all set with Toby Savin to start and Liam Isherwood will be on the bench. Toby is a good keeper who had a tough start when coming on for Luke Jensen on Saturday but he’s a very capable keeper at this level.
Who do we need to watch out for in your side that will cause us problems?
It’s really hard to say because of injuries but if Rosario Longelo is fit he can create things on the wing, the other player is Mitch Clark and in my money is the best right back in the league. Mitch has pace, a long throw, great crosses into the box and an excellent tackler. Also top scorer Tommy Leigh can create problems in the midfield and young Dan Martin is an excellent passer of the ball.
Are you aware of the threat of any of our players?
To be honest Will Grigg always seems to give us a hard time when he plays us, so if he’s on the bench I’d be happy with that.
Your game in hand is Plymouth, that’s not going to be easy ?
Not at all, if we can keep our goalkeepers on the pitch and have a full eleven we can give them a go. We held our own against Pompey with ten men and the score really didn’t reflect our play which was encouraging considering we play practically the whole match with ten men. A win would be a great result for us. Games in hand don’t mean a thing if you don’t get a result.
Are Forest Green all but down now?
Yes, I believe so as they are 12 points adrift and a terrible goal difference.
Its looking like a scrap between seven clubs including Cheltenham for the last three spots?
I’d agree with that and this weekend will be interesting with MK Dons at Stanley and Oxford at Morecambe. Oxford look like they are in trouble and there’s not a lot of love lost with Morecambe so them, Cambridge, Oxford and FG Rovers are my picks for the drop.
Can both the MK Dons and Accrington survive?
Yes. Why, please see the answer to my last question.
A Score prediction for the game please Tony?
Nothing is ever straight forward with Stanley but I’ll go with a 2-1 Stanley win with MK Dons scoring in the last ten minutes to make it tight but Stanley hanging on for the win.
Thank you Tony, enjoy the early morning kick off in Canada and good luck for the rest of the season.
