Money warns of Accrington threat

Mar 29 2007 By Brian Halford, Birmingham Mail

RICHARD Money believes Accrington Stanley will pose a different threat to that suggested by their position at the top of the "bad boys" league table when they visit Walsall on Saturday.

Second and third in that table, based on red and yellow cards collected, are Chester and Boston, whose visits to Bescot this year hardly had the purists purring.

But while Accrington top the list, with eight red cards and 68 yellows, those stats don't do justice to their approach to the game, reckons Money.

"I am surprised they have picked up that many red and yellow cards because they they don't set themselves up to play that way," said Money. "They try to play football. I don't think Saturday's game will be one where they just try to stop us playing. I think they will come and have a go.

"I have seen Accrington a lot this season because it's just happened they have been playing teams that are about to play us.

"And I am very surprised they are threatened by relegation because they are a capable side and went unbeaten for 10 or 12 games earlier in the season.

"We 2-1 won at their place, but I think everybody who saw that game would agree that we got away with it. We will have to play a lot better than that to win on Saturday."

Stanley, just three points above the relegation line, are sure to scrap like tigers but have won only three of 19 away games and Walsall would be gutted not to win. Unbeaten in five games, the Saddlers have begun the sort of run that could take them all the way to League One.

But Money will remind them again and again over the coming weeks that any dropping of standards between now and May could be horribly costly.

"We have to be at our very best on Saturday, as we have in every game from here on in," the manager said.