City 0 Accrington 3

City's last league tussle with Accrington was wiped from the records when the Lancashire club went bust.

How Stuart McCall must wish he could do the same after last night's shambles.

Sadly this one will stick in the book - and in the memories of the Valley Parade fans unfortunate enough to witness it.

Five years ago, almost to the day, Accrington were playing Park Avenue in front of just 760 at Horsfall Stadium in the UniBond League.

They were five divisions beneath City at that time. Not any more.

Now it's City looking upwards at Stanley - and they can have few complaints after a first half that was down there with the worst of them from recent seasons.

And yet again, it was City's masochistic tendencies which proved their undoing. Stanley's first two goals were down to rank mistakes; the third from another failure to clear their lines.

The game was less than 90 seconds old when Eddie Johnson telegraphed a terrible pass towards Mark Bower. Instead he slid it straight to Roscoe D'Sane and the striker who was playing non-league with AFC Wimbledon until the summer fired across Donovan Ricketts with some style.

But that goal was nothing compared with his second that was laid on a plate by Ricketts just after the half hour.

The Jamaican keeper has had a miserable run in recent matches. And the growing number of Donovan doubters were given more ammunition when he hesitated a split second with a routine punt upfield by counterpart Ian Dunbavin, allowing the much smaller D'Sane to nip in first and nod home.

Accrington had been handicapped by the loss of two players on stretchers inside the first 25 minutes, including first-choice keeper Kenny Arthur. But that double blow did not affect them one iota.

They were sharper, keener, hungrier than the sluggish home side. Only Alex Rhodes, making his first start for over a month, showed the necessary urgency in that woeful period to suggest any hint of a City fightback.

Rhodes won their first corner, which produced the first effort on goal from Peter Thorne. And the winger was at the heart of their best move of the first half, carving open Accrington with a one-two with Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu, only to be denied by Arthur, who damaged his ankle in the process.

Dunbavin brilliantly tipped over from Thorne, though his close-range volley came at him at a nice height, but Accrington were only a slither away from a humiliating third as Ricketts got a hand to a dangerous blast from substitute David Brown.

It was a good save but the damage had already been done by the keeper's shocking indecision for the second goal. Ironic cheers greeted Ricketts every time he managed to hold the ball after that.

It was miserable fare for a crowd who made their feelings very clear after the six minutes of half-time stoppage time. On this occasion, McCall could not complain at their damning verdict.

But the fans were right back onside for the re-start and greeted the team's return with a wall of noise.

City, no doubt suitably chastened by a McCall "hairdryer", responded and Ndumbu-Nsungu should have immediately halved the deficit but the ball got stuck under his feet in the six-yard box.

The Kop had cranked up the volume and just kept it going. Scott Phelan had a blast blocked but then a poor free-kick from Paul Heckingbottom sparked an Accrington counter which needed carefully snuffing out by Johnson in his own box.

But Accrington delivered another dollop of misery just after the hour as City failed to deal with Peter Cavanagh's free-kick. That man D'Sane got his head on it, the ball was partially blocked but only as far as Andy Procter, who celebrated being named League Two player of the month by slamming his fourth goal of the season.

The only defiance, it seemed, was coming from the stands. The Kop kept singing despite the humiliation unfolding before their eyes.

You wonder how they would have reacted if Colin Todd had still been in the hot-seat rather than McCall?

The 149 travelling Accrington fans, only three below their club's number of season-ticket holders, were clearly loving their trip across the Pennines. So were their team, who could be excused for the odd show-boat as they lapped up the biggest away win since they came back into the Football League.

Accrington were hunting a fourth, and who could blame them against a shaky opposition who looked likely to implode every time the blue shirts crossed the halfway line.

Brown wrong-footed the unhappy Tom Harban after another City corner came to nothing but this time Ricketts got everything behind the midfielder's shot. The end couldn't come soon enough.

Tempers were fraying with a scuffle off the ball in the penalty area while Kyle Nix received treatment on the halfway line after being clattered by Paul Carden.

Ndumbu-Nsungu was booked for his part in the nonsense - his last action as Barry Conlon was sent on as a replacement. It was a forlorn task for the Irishman because the game had been lost long ago.

Accrington should have had a fourth in the last five minutes. Again D'Sane bypassed a static back four before squaring for Brown inside the box but Ricketts stretched out a long enough leg to prevent even more agony.

Daley tested Dunbavin with a low drive in added time but the keeper safely held on. Nothing was going to be allowed to spoil Accrington's memorable night.

For City, this will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

McCall made sure his players stayed out to clap the supporters at the final whistle. They certainly did not deserve the backing they had been given.

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