Daggers v Accrington Stanley - Preview

Tomorrow, we host a club we know very well in Accrington Stanley, Stanley are very similar to the Daggers in size and they could be very well called the 'Northern' version of the Daggers. Stanley receive average gates of 1,700 at home with the Daggers only receiving around an average of 1,800 themselves. While the Daggers are surrounded by 5 London Premier League sides and 3 other big Championship sides who undoubtedly affect their gates, Stanley are in a similar position surrounded by 3 Premier League sides and being only 22 miles from Manchester doesn't do their gates any favours. I made my first visit to Stanley Park this season in what has to be one of the toughest away days I've done. To talk about it in brief, torrential rain in gusty winds in an open terrace to watch your team lose 3-0 in the slums of Lancashire showed me I would never survive in northern conditions. Despite this hellish journey, I did have a very good discussion with a Stanley fan on the way home who told me of how budgeted Accrington Stanley really were. On our journey back to Preston to catch the train home to London Euston, he told me of how their tannoy man was unpaid and was a local DJ who just turned up. Their groundsman's hours had been cut down despite their pitch looking the best in a long while and there was no ticket office in operation throughout the week. So next time you consider Dagenham to be a budgeted club, you may just want to take a look at Stanley's books which make Dave Andrews look like Sheik Mansour.

Recent Form

The Daggers form has been very indifferent this month as we've had 2 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw. We have been better on our own patch though with two wins and only conceding one goal showing there has been vast improvements made in the defence. Two goals each this month from Mickey Spillane and Medhi Elito may mean they will be the ones that the Lancashire outfit may want to watch tomorrow.

Stanley have been a very hard team to beat this month as they are on a 5 match unbeaten run drawing 4 games this month. They did however beat Northampton at home last week in their one win of the month. Despite their resilience to get beat this month, they have failed to keep a clean sheet in 11 games meaning the Daggers will be looking to keep this unwanted record up with the attacking line up of Akinde, Nurse, Parker and Elito.

Previous Meetings

As mentioned before the two clubs are no strangers to each other having met 13 times in the past 10 years with Stanley coming out winners 7 times, Daggers 4 times and the two clubs sharing the spoils only twice. In the most recent meeting which I mentioned earlier on, we were defeated 3-0 in a game where the familiar story of the Daggers not taking their chances meant that a brace from Irishman Padraig Amond and a goal from scouser Craig Lindfield gave Accrington a flattering 3-0 win. The last meeting at The London Borough of Barking & Dagenham Stadium ended in a comfortable 3-1 victory for the Daggers in the memorable play off winning season as goals from now Swindon Town striker Paul Benson, Charlton winger Danny Green and still Dagger Peter Gain gave us 3 points despite going a goal behind.

Team News

The Daggers welcome back "legend" Dave Hogan back to the bench tomorrow as Jon Bond has been recalled by his parent club Watford to be loaned back out to League One side Bury. Luke Howell's injury last week is not suspected to be anything too serious but is unlikely to feature tomorrow. Josh Scott came off the bench on Tuesday night and will be pushing for a start with a lot of competition up top in the attacking line up.

Accrington continue to have Sean Hessey, Brian Hughes and Dean Winnard sidelined with long term injuries. Winger Ian Craney is back in contention after appearing on the bench in their somewhat derby match with Morecambe in midweek. In true lower league style, Kurtis Guthrie injured himself in the warm up Tuesday night while centre half Peter Murphy faces a late fitness test. With a few injuries and a small squad, some youngsters/youth team may appear on the bench tomorrow for Stanley.

One to Watch:

My one to watch from Stanley tomorrow is on loan winger Bobby Grant. Merseyside born Grant was a graduate of the Liverpool Academy and played for Stanley from the tender age of 16 right through til he was 19. He was then snapped up by Scunthorpe United but now finds himself back at the club where it all started for his professional career at Stanley Park. Grant may be known for the infamous incident that involved Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard where they assaulted a DJ, Grant was released on bail without charge. A tricky winger with an eye for scoring and creating goals, he will need to be watched by Irish tomorrow.

Prediction:

Tomorrow is very much a winnable game tomorrow but we can't expect it to be easy. With Paul Cook's men being 5 unbeaten, they are going to be full of confidence themselves and will require a typical working man's Dagenham like performance to beat them. Looking back to the game at the beginning of the season, there is not a lot of difference between the two sides in what I expect to be a very even encounter. Accrington have now spent 6 years in the Football League and show that on a limited budget, it is possible for clubs like ourselves and them to establish ourselves in the Football League. After visiting Accrington this season, I have huge respect for everyone at the club as they really do have the lowest budget in the Football League and yet remain positive and go about their business in the right way. A favour from our old friends tomorrow by giving us the 3 points we desperately need wouldn't go a miss though. Get behind the boys tomorrow as we can do this. Stay Positive. Keep the Faith. We are Dagenham.