This weekend brought about another round of League One action. With players and fans struggling to cope with the extreme heat this weekend we saw the first drink breaks across the Premier League and throughout the EFL, writes Samuel Rowson.
As Barnsley are on the look-out for a new shirt sponsor, Stockton could be on the move, Keogh makes the switch to Ipswich and we start with a cracker of a game at Accrington.
Stanley and Albion share the spoils
As I mentioned last week in my League One update Burton Albion hadn’t made a great start to the season scoring no goals and conceding seven in the first two games. They since followed this up with a dismal away performance away at Rochdale in the Carabao Cup conceding two late goals as the 2018-19 semi-finalists exited the cup at the first round stage for the second year running. Surely luck would start to swing their way. Brewers fans would have thought so as after 50 minutes they were out to prove the doubters wrong and were leading Accrington Stanley 3-0 after a KD Davis Hattrick, which all but seemed to secure their first three points of the season. But for the second game running two late goals from Wood and Longelo would be Albion’s undoing with Accrington claiming a point at the death.
Accrington have seemed to have adapted well to life after Colby Bishop who moved to Portsmouth in the summer, as they have scored 9 goals across 4 games with 5 points on the board. This for the neutral was the clear game of the weekend in League One and classified as an eight-goal thriller, although I’m not sure many Burton fans will describe it as such. And with assistant manager Dino Maamria confirming on Monday that two players in ‘Cameron Borthwick Jackson and Calum Butcher’ both sustained injuries and could be in doubt for tonight’s fixture at home to the early pace setters in Ipswich Town. With Calum Butcher having to be replaced on 33 minutes and Jackson with a suspected head injury, it could make their task even harder on Tuesday evening. It was one point gained but with two starters potentially injured it was done at a heavy cost.
Stockton to League One rivals?
Eyebrows were raised on Saturday as Morecambe’s star man in Cole Stockton was not included in the starting 11, he wasn’t even in the squad as the Shrimps faced Fleetwood Town. In the post match interview following the 1-1 draw, Morecambe boss Derek Adams stated that ‘the striker phoned in ill on the morning prior to the game and that was why he was absent for the game’. However with less than a year left on his current contract is this a prelude to a potential move for the inform man of last season? He scored 26 goals last time out and was the main reason in why Morecambe are still in this division as without his crucial goals they might be playing a division lower. And if he is to leave, Morecambe would rather sell him on for a fee than to see him leave in the summer for free. Since this news arose after the game on Saturday several articles have mentioned a potential move to teams such as Rotherham United and Fleetwood Town. With some articles even touting a potential six-figure sum. However the Miller’s manager Warne has refuted the links and claims that “I haven’t had any contact with him (Stockton), I am led to believe he is signing for Fleetwood…” only time will tell on this one and we might see him sooner than we expected as we face Fleetwood Town at home on the 27th August.
Hex-is-gone: Barnsley FC cut ties with shirt sponsor
Only three weeks into the campaign and Barnsley are already on the lookout for a new shirt sponsor. This is after they signed a deal with a controversial company in Hex- a cryptocurrency, to feature on all of their kits for the 2022/23 season. However, shocking details have since come to light via Twitter which led the club to terminate their sponsorship deal with immediate effect with the cryptocurrency. Social media accounts which had been accredited to sealing the deal between the South Yorkshire side and the Crypto company have since been found to have made historic homophobic tweets. These accounts were highlighted and praised by Hex’s Brent Morrissey for making the deal between the two a reality prior to the backdated tweets being unsurfaced. The club was swift to act and subsequently played against Derby County on Saturday with no front of shirt sponsor as a result. The club could now either seek a new deal, go sponsor less for the rest of the season or have the sponsor they had on the shirts for the opening day game away at Plymouth in the local charity Weston Park Cancer. However with critics brandishing the original kit release as shocking and utterly hideous due to the large size of the Hex logo, anything they choose will drastically improve the overall aesthetic of their kits for this season.
Keogh on the move from coast to coast
The former Derby County defender in Richard Keogh has made the switch from Blackpool to Ipswich. The veteran 36-year-old made the swap from the North West after making 31 appearances last season. However with the defender spending 7 successful seasons with the Rams before his contract was terminated in his 8th for an out of work incident. This resulted in him facing a long term injury as a result. He has been consistent since he parted with Derby, with spells at Milton Keynes in 2020-21 (21 apps) and then onto Huddersfield (21 apps) and Blackpool (31 apps). Keogh has played roughly half of the games in each of the last three seasons. Showing that despite his age he still has something to offer Ipswich.
Furthermore with his recent pedigree associated with the level above and playing Championship football this could be an astute bit of business by the Suffolk side, who are looking to finally return to the second tier for the first time since 2019. This addition to the Ipswich squad could be more than a playing role, as his knowledge of the game will be valuable to the younger members in the squad and could easily be the difference between a potential title bid and a play-off spot this term. He may also be starting to think about a potential progression into coaching and finishing his career where it began way back as a schoolboy after leaving Ipswich for Stoke City’s academy back in January 2003.
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