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Accrington Stanley vs Portsmouth 1959

Programme of the Week Accrington Stanley vs Portsmouth 24th January 1959

The latest in a series about football programmes from my collection that relate to a game being played in the next few days.

Accrington Stanley vs Portsmouth 2019 / 2020

On Saturday, Accrington Stanley host Portsmouth at the magnificently named Wham Stadium. We’re not quite halfway through the league one season; Stanley have played 19 games and Portsmouth 18.

Of the two sides, Pompey are probably more disappointed with their performance to-date. They finished last season in 4th place and lost out on promotion through the play-offs. Many thought that they would return stronger this year and storm the league.

Stanley finished last season in 14th though their points total of 55 was only 5 more than one of the relegated sides.

Today, Portsmouth sit 10th on 28 points – three short of a play off place. Accrington are 18th with 19 points, five points above MK Dons in the relegation zone.

For their last match against Bolton Wanderers in the Leasing.com Trophy, Stanley produced a digital only match day programme. This was available through the MatchDayInfo app.

Just not sure about this at all – #traditionaloldfogey!

Anyway, three points will do very nicely for both sides and I’m sure Kenny Jackett will want to keep Pompey’s unbeaten run going. On the other hand John Coleman probably needs Stanley to bag maximum points to ease any worries about slipping into a relegation fight.

Accrington Stanley vs Portsmouth 24th January 1959

This is a momentous game for Accrington Stanley. It is their first ever game in the 4th round proper of the FA Cup. It is also the first time a First Division Club has visited Peel Park in the Cup.

To get to the fourth round, Stanley have beaten Workington 5-1 at home in the first round. They then beat Buxton at home 6-1 in the second round. The third round saw Accrington beat Darlington 3-0 at home and Portsmouth beat Swansea Town 3-1 at home.

As mentioned, Portsmouth are a top flight club, but they will be relegated to division two at the end of this season. Accrington Stanley are in Division Three (League One) and will finish in 19th place; six points clear of relegation.

Accrington Stanley vs Portsmouth 24th January 1959 – Match Programme

Stanley produce a sixteen page programme for the tie – ours is number 12936

The cover is red and white and comprises two adverts below basic club information. The inside cover and page three are also taken up with adverts. Maybe it is time to rent a Bush 14inch TV from Relayvision of high Street Accrington for just 7/6 per week!

More adverts on page four, but page five gives us a potted history of the visitors. The club notes on pages 6 & 7, bemoan the fact that only five miles down the road, Blackburn and Burnley are also meeting in the cup.

Without this fixture, the writer is sure that the Peel Park ground record attendance would have been broken. The centre pages of the programme show the team sheets surrounded by many more small ads.

Page 10 has the first team and reserve team fixtures and results to date. Page 12 offers us the half time scoreboard. Elsewhere, the other pages are full of adverts for local businesses and hats off to the commercial department of the day, for pulling in all that paid content.

The programme costs 3d.

Accrington Stanley vs Portsmouth 24th January 1959 – The Main Men

At centre forward for Portsmouth was Ron Saunders, who sadly died earlier this week. Ron joined Portsmouth in 1958 and was the club’s leading goal scorer for six consecutive seasons. He played over 230 games for Pompey, scoring 145 goals.

He found greater fame through his managerial career with Norwich City; Manchester City; Aston Villa; Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion.

I mean no disrespect to him in pointing out his roll in the revival of Wolverhampton Wanderers in the ‘80s. He deemed that neither Steve Bull or Andy Thompson were of sufficient quality for WBA and sold the pair to a nearly bankrupt Wolves. The rest is history!

Accrington Stanley has one of the lesser known pairs of footballing brothers in their side. Harry Anders lined up on the right wing, with younger brother Jimmy on the left wing.

Between 1957 and 1960 the Anders brothers made just under 250 appearances for Stanley. They scored just under 50 goals between them. Each left Accrington Stanley in 1960 before the Club’s desperate demise midway through the 196-62 season.

Harry moved to Workington but made only a handful of appearances before moving to non-league Runcorn. Jimmy moved (via Buxton) to Bradford Park Avenue for two seasons before seeing out his career in 1962 with Tranmere Rovers.

Accrington Stanley vs Portsmouth 24th January 1959 – The Outcome

Despite a pencil notation in my programme indicating a 1-1 draw; the teams drew 0-0 and moved to Fratton Park four days later for the replay. Class told and Pompey ran out 4-1 winners on the night.

Ironically, Pompey then drew the winners of the Blackburn Rovers vs Burnley match in the fifth round. They were beaten 1-0 at Turf Moor by Burnley.

Good luck to both sides on Saturday – it promises to be a good close fought game

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