Accrington Pull Out A Plum Tie

There may be Premiership teams who think of the Carling Cup as small beer but down in League Two its a big opportunity to raise the profile and add some much-needed revenue to the coffers.

Accrington Stanley received an immediate reward for their excellent away win at Doncaster Rovers this week when they were drawn at home to Newcastle United in the Second Round. It's a great draw for the club and their loyal supporters.

Life in the Football League has been a real struggle since Stanley took the Conference by storm in 2005/06 playing a composed brand of football. In the four League campaigns since, Stanley have finished 20th, 17th, 16th and 15th.

Manager John Coleman is still at the helm and applying the principles of a passing game but he's had to work in tough circumstances. In the 40 plus years that the club were away from the League the game had changed.

Accrington had a smallish potential fan base to begin with and many local football fans have become used to watching Premiership football at Blackburn and Championship fare at Burnley- both just up the road.

Younger fans grew up on the Premiership and are more likely to follow Manchester United and Liverpool rather than League Two fare, which added up to very disappointing crowd figures. The club were in danger of going bust again and Burnley helped them out by playing a prestige friendly but survival is still the big issue.

Crowds over 2,000 are rare and there have been times when the gate has stuggled to make it over the 1,000 mark. Last weekend's season opener brought just 1.624 paying customers to Livingstone Road.

Newcastle's visit should fill the stadium's modest capacity of 5,057 for the first time. The club's accountants might have favoured an away tie but this pairing is just reward for a lot of hard working people and a chance to showcase the club.

Hopefully, a few of those who turn up just to watch the Geordies might come back on Saturdays in winter.