Accrington 2 City 3

The home steward was lugging a crate of lager towards the dressing-room area half an hour before kick-off.

“It’s the new tactic,” he joked to some fans, “these are half-time energy drinks...”

A fair few were certainly sunk by the away fans afterwards.

Without plugging the product, City will look back on Saturday as probably the best comeback in the world.

Accrington certainly carried the haunted look of a club whose world had just fallen around their ears.

This may have been their sixth defeat in seven but nobody within the tight little ground saw this one coming.

Stuart McCall seemed just as stunned afterwards as he tried to put a remarkable afternoon into some kind of sense.

For someone who always wears his City heart on his sleeve, McCall could almost be accused of appearing a bit downbeat despite such a come-from-nowhere victory.

McCall the perfectionist had not been impressed with the off-colour display. Whatever went on at the end, it was hardly a convincing performance.

But it was a year ago to the day that City had done everything but win at Morecambe, when they were sunk by a totally unjust last-minute goal. As Wayne Jacobs and David Wetherall were quick to remind the manager.

“I didn’t really celebrate anything – even the final whistle,” said McCall. “But Jakes and Wethers both made the point about the many games last season when we deserved a lot more and have gone in the dressing-room absolutely gutted.

“Everyone else was elated after the game but I still felt a little disappointed. For 20 minutes in the second half there was no drive or desire and we were going a bit soft and lying down.

“We were 2-0 down and weren’t rushing to do things. It got to the stage where I wish I could have run on myself because I was that angry.

“No disrespect to Accrington, who played well, but they have been on a bad losing run. Confidence will be fragile and we told the players they had to try to take advantage of that.

“If we’ve got any ambition of getting out of this division, we’ve got to be looking to get the three points from games like this one.

“But we know October has been a dreadful month for us recently so it’s an important win. The quality of the goals got us the points.”

McCall has been quick to play down any talk of the wheels falling off following City’s three-match run without a victory but anyone doubting how vital Saturday was to their ambitions only had to watch the animated discussion going on well before kick-off.

The coaching staff had the whole squad in a circle for a pitchside pep-talk which left no doubt that McCall would settle for nothing less than three points against a side who last managed that on August 23. It was a good time to play Accrington – though they might have felt the same about the visitors.

City were forced into changes, with no Omar Daley at a ground where he thrived on New Year’s Day. There were also new faces at both full backs, including TJ Moncur after his head scare a fortnight ago.

But it was left back Luke O’Brien who really caught the eye with an excellent all-round game.

Solid defensively, he proved an equally enthusiastic attacking option with his overlapping raids.

The best of those came after 11 minutes with a give-and-go with Kyle Nix taking the young defender to the byline to set up Michael Boulding, whose near-post flick was well saved.

That was the first of several chances City created in the first quarter as the huge away following behind Kenny Arthur’s goal anticipated the inevitable. Nix and Dean Furman both could have scored in a scramble then Boulding wasted a glorious opportunity by powering over Moncur’s cross. It was too strong a contact; anything less and surely City would have been one up.

Instead it was the home side who struck against the run of play with a goal that left McCall fuming.

It was a carbon copy of a corner move that City had executed so well at Aldershot, and Jimmy Ryan hit it sweetly enough from the edge of the box after skipper Peter Cavanagh had neatly stepped over a low corner.

But the away dug-out was furious because McCall had warned his players pre-match to expect that specific routine.

He said: “I don’t scout other teams and go through match videos for hours on end to warn the players what will happen and then they let them do exactly that.

“We knew it was a set-piece that they do and we’d worked on it the day before. We had even mentioned it again before the game.”

The Stanley Ultras, a band of 20 keen fans who try to bring a taste of the San Siro to East Lancashire, were in full flag-waving, drum-bashing voice.

City came close to silencing them without finding a leveller. Peter Thorne, caught offside far too often, slid the ball the wrong side of the post and then Joe Colbeck’s free-kick skimmed off the wall and against the bar with Boulding unable to direct a diving header from the rebound.

Five minutes after the break and Stanley had the Bantams in a right mess.

Rhys Evans, who let in four here with Blackpool two years ago, gave away possession on halfway with a poor clearance. Tricky winger John Miles picked it up and City were caught waiting for a non-existent offside flag as Terry Gornell strolled through and calmly finished.

Any swagger in City’s play promptly disappeared and a resigned air of defeat seemed to consume their play. They were no longer picking up second balls and suddenly it was Accrington finding the space and playing with a confidence they had not shown for the past half-dozen outings.

Barry Conlon was summoned from the bench for Nix on the hour but still there was little to enthuse the waning mood on the City terrace. The effervescent Furman flashed a volley just over but when another goalmouth scramble again failed to produce anything, you sensed this was not going to be City’s day.

The pub must have seemed ten times more inviting for the away fans that staying to witness the last rites. I wonder if anyone will admit to leaving early with ten minutes to go.

It was at that moment that we were reminded why McCall had spent much of his summer wooing Boulding from Mansfield.

The striker had already missed more chances than he’d probably had in the previous three games. But then Conlon won a flick-on to arrow the ball in Boulding’s direction and his deadly right foot did the rest as the ball soared into the roof of the net just under the bar.

Suddenly half a dozen City players were running into the net to retrieve the ball as they sensed all was far from lost. Accring-ton now looked like a team who had forgotten how to win.

The minutes ticked by before Boulding was clipped ten yards to the left of the box. Paul McLaren’s free-kick was bang on the money and was met by an equally emphatic header from Conlon – what a couple of games he’s had!

Boulding chased referee Mike Jones to find out how much stoppage time he would be adding. Plenty enough for City to win it.

White shirts surged forward again and Colbeck seized the initiative as he rolled an inviting pass through for Thorne, the hottest shot in the division. You can guess the rest of the story.