The Accrington Stanley Chronicle
Squad7 Dec 2026
The knee: Robert Hall out for 18 days
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Accrington Stanley lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
The mood at Accrington Stanley has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match7 Dec 2026
Accrington Stanley sink to position 22
14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad7 Dec 2026
6 saves: Brad Collins was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Aidan Borland goes up and wins it — 7.37
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.37 for the rest of it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Both jobs done by Liam Coyle — 7.04
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 15 actions, 7.04, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Devon Matthews signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Devon Matthews commits to Accrington Stanley for another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Accrington Stanley
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamin Santelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
One of their own: Isaac Heath
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
In brief
- Match Aidan Borland sends Accrington Stanley past Milton Keynes Dons
- Player ratings Ninety minutes of Isaac Heath at his very best
- The dugout Farrend Rawson gets it from the manager