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INTERVIEW: One player can make himself a Stanley hero says Sean

McConville says Reds go to Pompey in upbeat mood

20 April 2023

Interviews

INTERVIEW: One player can make himself a Stanley hero says Sean

McConville says Reds go to Pompey in upbeat mood

20 April 2023

Sean McConville knows himself or one of his teammates could write themselves into Accrington Stanley folklore if they score the goals to keep the Reds in League One.

Stanley are in 23rd place with four games to go and are three points off safety.

The Reds travel to Portsmouth on Saturday, then face promotion-chasing Bolton on Tuesday before two games against their relegation rivals, Cambridge and Oxford.

“It’s a chance for someone to be a cult hero here and it could come from anyone," said the 34-year-old.

“It could be a sub who comes on for two minutes and scores the goal to keep you in League One, they would go down in history.

“To every member of the squad, that’s your incentive. You could be that one player that, when sitting there in summer, everyone could be thinking of him if we do stay up.

“That’s a carrot for the whole squad that that one moment might come. We have to try and take this to the last game at Oxford.”

Despite eight defeats in the last 10 games, McConville says a battling second half performance against promotion-chasing Peterborough on Tuesday, in which he scored, has given the players a lot of heart entering the final run-in.

“The dressing room after a spirited second half performance against Peterborough is upbeat," he said.

“We know we are in a tough spot, it’s a big relegation fight, but on the back of a second half performance which warranted more than zero points, it’s quite positive and we have to take it into Saturday’s game and fight tooth and nail to get a result at Fratton Park.

“We have to be confident we can avoid relegation, there is no other alternative. I will never throw the towel in, the players won’t and the management certainly won’t and the fans won’t. They were magnificent Tuesday, they have been right behind us and they are with us.”

While Portsmouth are unbeaten in eight games, four draws in their last four games has hampered their promotion charge.

McConville continued: “We need to fight, we need to harass defenders, get in people’s faces and, if it’s not enough, it’s not through lack of trying.

“We have to run farther than we have ever run and in those big moments when a chance comes we need to take it or, as a back fou,r we need to stop leaking goals. If we do that we will give ourselves a chance.

“There are four games to go, we probably need two or three wins out of them, but it’s doable.

“There is no reason why we can’t go to Portsmouth and win, we have done it before and we have quite a decent record there, and there is no reason why we can’t go to Bolton on Tuesday and win.

“We have to do our homework on Portsmouth and go there and try and win the game, get three points and look at the table travelling back and hopefully we are in a better spot than we are now.

“I won’t let this go easily, with every last breath this season I will be working as hard as I physically can.

“It seems like everything is against us, and I know being at this club for that long, when this is the case we come out fighting."

The full pre-match interview with Sean McConville is available to watch on the club's official YouTube channel, CLICK HERE to find out more!


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