From the Archive | Thirteen minutes of magic

Anyone who has ever visited the away terrace behind the goal at Accrington Stanley will tell you it can be a pretty unforgiving place, especially if you find yourself there on a Tuesday night in the depths of winter.  

Fortunately for Salop fans, we have fond memories of our time at the Wham Stadium over the years, and for this week’s From the Archive, we are going back six years to our late victory there in August 2019.  

The 2019/20 season, our first full season under Sam Ricketts, had got off to a mixed start. Three games into the season, we had won one, lost one, and drawn one. Accrington, on the other hand, were winless coming into the game.  

The first half of the game was fairly uninspired, with neither team being able to threaten the opposition. The best chance fell to Sean McConville, who saw an effort from outside the box pushed wide by Max O’Leary.  

The game burst to life in the 66th minute, when Omar Beckles was adjudged to have pushed Colby Bishop inside the six-yard box, leaving the ref with no choice but to point to the spot. The striker dusted himself down and smashed the ball home, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead.  

Five minutes later, Dion Charles received the ball on the edge of the area and fired a spectacular effort past Leary from 20 yards.  

An Accy player would then have the ball in the net for the third time in ten minutes, only this time, it was in the wrong end. A Ryan Giles effort in the 77th minute was saved by Stanley keeper Dimi Evtimov, but was pushed into the path of the oncoming Mark Hughes, who hit it back into his own goal.

With the clock ticking down, Town would level the score in front of a jubilant away end in the 86th minute, with Fejiri Okenabirhie flicking home a corner to make it 2-2.  

Town’s incredible 13-minute turnaround was complete in the 90th minute. A massive hoof up the field from Omar Beckles found Daniel Udoh in a foot race with an Accrington defender. There was only going to be one winner, with the striker racing through before slotting past Evtimov to secure all three points in dramatic fashion.