It took a penalty in extra time but Accrington Stanley secured one of the biggest days in their history this week when they beat National League Boreham Wood to reach the FA Cup fourth round and the might of Premier League Leeds.
Via Zoom, Sportsmail brought together our columnist and lifelong fan David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd and Accrington’s long- serving manager John Coleman to discuss the big day, memories of Don Revie and all things Stanley…
Accrington Stanley beat Boreham Wood 1-0 in their FA Cup third round replay on Tuesday night
Former England cricketer and Mail columnist David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd – a lifelong Accrington Stanley fan – caught up with manager John Coleman
David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd: What a result on Tuesday gaffer. What was it like?
John Coleman: It was like having your teeth pulled out! Give them credit. They came with a game plan, made it difficult for us with long balls and we got drawn into trying to out-Boreham Wood them. It became a game of throw-ins, the ball was barely in play.
They are two leagues below us and our quality should have shone through, but it didn’t. Maybe we were nervous. There was a lot at stake. Thankfully we got the pen.
Bumble: You’ve got a quick turnaround now. What’s it going to be like facing Leeds on Saturday?
Coleman: Leeds boss Jesse Marsch was there against Boreham Wood sitting with our owner Andy Holt in his lounge. I was laughing about that because it was a terrible game. I can’t describe how bad it was. Jesse must be quaking in his boots!
But our lads have got everything to gain and nothing to lose. Leeds did lose to Crawley a couple of years ago.
Bumble: What did their manager think of Andy Holt? He makes me sound like King Charles.
Coleman: He’s not shy of telling you how it is. It probably did Jesse good coming to our ground and seeing the surroundings. One thing I will say is that our pitch is like a carpet. They will have no complaints. It won’t be a leveller.
Bumble: How do you see Leeds as a team?
Accrington Stanley boss John Coleman joked about Jesse Marsch watching his side’s terrible tie against Boreham Wood in the third round
Coleman: They are great going forward and pass the ball really well. We’ve got to come up with a formula to try to beat them. My preferred way is to press them high up the pitch and try to take the ball off them. Or you pack your defence and play on the counter. But that’s not my style to be honest, and I don’t think we are very good at that.
We’ll come up with a plan. We need to keep it tight and if you can get through the first half without conceding, suddenly you don’t seem too far away from nicking it.
Bumble: It’s a big day for one of your players in particular…
Coleman: (Defender) Harvey Rodgers is a huge Leeds fan. As far as he was concerned, he was going to keep Boreham Wood out on his own with the prospect of playing Leeds in the next round.
Bumble: You have had two long successful spells with us. Where does this rank for you as a manager?
Coleman: It’s funny because I was nervous this week and that isn’t like me. I’ve got to have a look at myself — I was even dropping things in the dressing room before the game!
It’s probably the most financially rewarding game we have had. That penalty Tommy Leigh took on Tuesday was worth 350 grand. That’s pressure.
Leeds boss Jesse Marsch came to watch Accrington’s third round tie and sat with owner Andy Holt
Bumble: We are both old enough to remember the great Leeds side.
Coleman: It was mad. I grew up as a staunch Liverpool fan and in the 1970s Leeds were our big rivals but for some reason I loved them. I could go through all the players — Sprake, Reaney, Madeley, Charlton, Hunter, Cooper, Giles, Bremner, Gray, Jones, Lorimer and Clarke.
I loved that they had a nasty little edge to them as well. But they could play. I remember when they battered Southampton 7-0 — Jack Charlton was doing back-heels. It was on a mud bath, too. When they lost the Cup final to Sunderland in 1973, I cried my eyes out. All my family were saying, ‘Get away you clown, you shouldn’t want Leeds to win’.
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Bumble: I remember when I played for Stanley’s youth team, we faced Leeds at their training ground. They beat us 1-0 and Don Revie was watching. I had a blinder at left half, an absolute worldie! I thought, ‘I’m in here, Revie will sign me up’. But he didn’t.
I live in North Yorkshire now and Peter Lorimer’s lad owns a pub in the village next to ours. It’s the Blacksmith Arms at Farlington. It’s a good pub too. So what does this game mean to the club? Andy Holt will be jumping through hoops!
Coleman: Yeah, he’s made up. And it will be a great day for the fans. We haven’t given them enough highs this season. We’ve been decimated by injuries, but the supporters have been behind us in great numbers — even when we were at Barnsley and we were like the walking dead in the first 20 minutes. They have never turned on us or stopped supporting us. It’s a day out for them.
Bumble (pictured middle of the front row) used to play for the Accrington Stanley academy
Bumble: We have seen so many changes at our club. Years ago our ground was an embarrassment but it’s a cracking little stadium now. And you have got an office instead of that Portaloo!
Coleman: I remember doing a team talk once and the roof was leaking. We’d lost and blobs of water were falling on my head. I was just thinking, ‘Could this be any worse?’ But the owner has done brilliantly. He won’t waste cash, as you know, but he’s put a lot of money into the club and done it the right way.
It used to be a conference-level ground at best, but it’s all been renovated now. And the clubhouse is magnificent. It’s like the old saying — you can give a man a couple of fish and feed him for a day, or you can teach him how to fish and feed him for life. When we are long gone, there will still be a club here that can stand on its own two feet.
Bumble: I remember you coming back to the club for a second spell in 2014. Was it an easy decision to come back then?
Coleman: Peter Marsden, the old chairman, had asked me to come back a few times and when Leam Richardson moved on the year before that, I thought I would walk back into it.
But Peter asked me for an interview at the Windmill Hotel just off the M6 — why he went to the expense of having it there I don’t know — and said, ‘Why should I give you the job?’ I’d been sacked by Rochdale so I said, ‘Because I haven’t got a job and you haven’t got a manager…’ It didn’t go well.
I couldn’t see why I had to have an interview. So Peter rang me afterwards and said, ‘We’ve decided to go in a different direction. We’re giving the job to James Beattie.’ Nothing against James, he’s a decent lad. But I was a bit stunned and broke the world record for the number of expletives thrown at a chairman in 30 seconds. I called him every name under the sun.
But we buried the hatchet over a couple of pints of Guinness when I went on to manage Sligo and a few months after, when the club were struggling, I got offered the chance to come back. It was a no-brainer.
Leeds cemented their place in the fourth round with a 5-2 victory over Cardiff City in a third round replay at Elland Road
Bumble: You brought the club up into the Football League and you have taken them to League One. What’s your ambition now?
Coleman: First and foremost, we need to stay in this division. Getting to play Leeds in the Cup is a big, big bonus but we have to make sure we stay up.
This might sound daft, but I still think we’ve got one more promotion in us. We just have to have one of those seasons when things go for you, when you don’t get the injuries and you get the bounce of the ball. The long-term ambition is to have a crack at the Championship.
Bumble: I reckon you can get there, John. All the very best for Saturday. Leeds United. What a game! I wish I could be there, but I’m doing a bit of commentary in Abu Dhabi at the moment…
Coleman: It’s on the BBC. Will you be able to watch it?
Bumble: Well I’m told I need a VPN but you have to pay for those and I’m a Yorkshireman now so I’m not sure I want to splash out… just kidding, I’ll be watching. On Stanley on!