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Not every Saturday iFollow 18:29 - Sep 3 with 541 views

All week the forecast threatened rain and whilst we got a few spots, Accrington was far more hospitable than usual.

We speculated pre-game that McKenna might name his most physical side possible, so Jackson up front was an interesting choice. Accrington were everything they are every year, just with less experience and guile than usual.

Refs seem atrocious every week and there were times you just couldn't see what he did. When Davis was chopped down in the second half and clearly hurt, he still gave the throw in rather than the deserved card and it was stuff like that allowed the game to get away from him but for once not us.

Stanley seemed to stay narrow and deep wherever possible to neutralise Jackson getting in behind and this frustrated John-Jules and to a lesser extent Harness. Whilst Walton only had one proper save to make, tipping another over it was really the sense that we might slip up that was going to provide their best chance to score.

I've never seen us win at Stanley, it feels like I've never seen us create anything simulating joy or a reason to go to football. When Chaplin came off the bench and snuck something from that corner into the net right in front of us, everything lifted.

The sense of doom, my voice by a couple of octaves, 1000 sets of arms to name a few. I've no real idea who or what caused the second it was paen to sh1te football as it pinged about the box into the net.

It's hard to suggest much football was played today, but this is a real turning point. Players came into the side and off the bench to make a real difference. Evans seems to do no wrong of late whilst Donacien can file a poor display by his standards into a bin of inconsequential games.

Chaplin will rightly grab all the praise and attention but Burgess was perfect at his former club and Ladapo showed just why he often goes unnoticed by everyone but McKenna and the opposition. Working into space and recycling play to keep us on the front foot epitomised what so many other his teammates do every time they pull on the shirt under McKenna.

Games and results like today win promotions.

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Not every Saturday iFollow on 19:29 - Sep 3 with 457 views

HighgateBlue

Yes, agree with all of that.

I can't help but think what kind of scores we'd be getting if we had a front man who really could finish and got on a right streak. I'm just not convinced by Jackson. I'm not sure how much the opposition have to do to neutralise him. I don't see that he offers the physicality of a Ladapo, and he doesn't get the goals that Ladapo lacks. Really looking forward to seeing what Ahadme can do once he gets more minutes. Great to see him coming on as part of a win today. I think he'll be a really good signing, even this season, but certainly in the longer term.

I had a little gander at the player ratings for today, just to see if I'm being an idiot re: Jackson, and at time of writing, he's the worst rated player from today by 0.3 points. It seems many agree. I do see what a difficult position it is to play in KMac's set up though.

It feels silly to sound negative after another away win - clean sheet - top of the league combo.

I guess there's just so much that has gone right that I wouldn't really know where to begin. So much to like right now. We can all be very optimistic that we can reproduce these results against the better teams in the league I feel.

Not every Saturday iFollow on 08:15 - Sep 4 with 337 views

Mullet

Not every Saturday iFollow on 19:29 - Sep 3 by HighgateBlue

I think Jackson was a curveball but gives us all a greater insight into how McKenna sees things. His explanation for why he picked him from Phil's write up and why it didn't work was fascinating

McKenna: No One's Getting Carried Away 3rd Sep 2022 18:38
Town boss Kieran McKenna says no one at Portman Road is getting carried away despite this afternoon’s 2-0 win at Accrington, a club record fourth away win at the start of a season, taking the Blues back to the top of League One.

Jackson didn't play badly at all, he just didn't get a sniff in a game where Accrington tried to stall and choke us into giving something away. His one shot in the second half where he did break the line was perfect, it's just the keeper got a touch on it which is his job.

Ladapo has been unlucky not to score more and has snatched at a few since the pressure mounted (the one at Burton springs to mind) but he really is the hinge to the our attacking play. Without him we don't get the second balls that so many goals have come from our the defenders out of position/doubled up. Think you can see that in the second goal today potentially although in real time it wasn't as clear.

Ahadme is a funny one. Arguably he was a punt based on a good game against us, he's been in good form though generally. He came on and made one or two good touches, knocked a defender off the ball and then the next move he completely missed his runner with a stray pass. But he came on as a 10 nominally you could say with a few minutes left.

I would think McKenna is very happy. His reaction to us at the end was passionate by his standards.

Poll:	If Cook had the full season where would we have finished?
Blog:	When the Fanzine Comes Around

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