Stanley

As expected the day started with snow and by mid-morning the inevitable postponement of Bradford City's match had happened.

Out of adversity, opportunity; but which other Bank Holiday match within economical traveling distance should I select? The reserve options were Morecambe, Doncaster, Chesterfield and Accrington Stanley and luckily I chose the only one of these that ended up not being called off.

Accrington started the day at the top of League Two and are looking likely to achieve promotion to League One for the first time. Today's opponents were Notts County who are also pushing for promotion so the game had a good top of the table feel to it. Coincidentally I saw the reverse fixture at Meadow Lane in August.

Snow had turned to rain by the time I was walking across Bradford from Foster Square to the Interchange to catch the Accrington train. It didn't let up for the rest of the day. Once in Accrington I did just ten minutes of exploring (three plaques) before setting off on the twenty minute walk up to the Wham Stadium (Crown Ground). Had it not been chucking it down I would have made a detour to the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, as has been traditional on my Lancastrian away days (Wigan, Burnley, Barnoldswick) this season, but it was a kilometre further out of town and I was wet enough already. 

The ground has the second smallest capacity in the Football League but I managed to secure a seat in the main stand (for context, the main stand is about ten rows deep).  There was a marquee up with some live music to keep an expected bumper crowd dry and entertained - and at 3,039 Stanley's 11th highest attendance ever was achieved. 

With the match underway it didn't take long for Accrington to take the lead through defender Mark Hughes (not to be confused with Brother #1 of the same name). Thereafter Stanley dominated the match but didn't manage to score a second. County came close on a couple of occasions but 1-0 it finished. The Stanley songs from the terrace behind the goal (pictured) kept up a lively atmosphere throughout.

Returning home through the Pennines most of the snow has washed away, it looks like it will be a bit drier, warmer and brighter tomorrow.