ACCRINGTON Stanley is familiar territory for Reds new boy Connor Ripley as he returns to his East Lancashire roots more than a decade since lifting silverware at his new home.

The 25-year-old joined Stanley on loan from Middlesbrough on transfer deadline day and could make his second appearance for the club in tonight’s Carabao Cup first round tie at Mansfield having made his debut in the weekend win at Bristol Rovers.

Ripley, son of former Blackburn Rovers favourite Stuart, grew up in the area while his dad was strutting his stuff at Ewood Park.

And he is pleased to be back, a decade since he played at the Crown Ground in a school’s final.

“I know Accrington well,” he said. “I played a final here for Ribblesdale High School against Clitheroe Grammar School and that was the first and last time I played at the ground and we won.

“I was born in Middlesbrough but grew up in Blackburn. I went to St Leonard’s Primary School and Ribblesdale High School. My dad lives in Brockhall Village and my mum lives in Whalley but my family is in Middlesbrough.

“I knew about the club. It is a small club but it is a club that is looking forward and looking to progress and you can see that in the style of play. I am excited for the season.

“Accrington have been chasing me for a while and there was other stuff in the pipeline but I wanted to come here, it’s a club that is going forward in the right direction.”

With a footballer father, who won the top flight title with Rovers in 1995 and was capped twice by England, Ripley junior admits he has had to live with comparisons to his old man. But it’s not something that fazes him.

“I am used to people saying ‘your dad was such a good footballer, your dad was a legend.’ He was a good footballer,” said Ripley.

“He has won the Premier League so he was a very good player, I know that and I accept that but I am not in my dad’s shadow because I am not a winger, I am a goalkeeper. Although he thinks he has played in my position, he still tells me what to do. I think I am the better player though, I think if I played right wing I would be better!

“When people talk about my dad I am okay with it. He helps me a lot, he is my agent and does a lot for me.”

The Reds new boy has already found his voice at Stanley, he sang Build Me Up Buttercup as his initiation song - ‘I thought I stole the show to be honest, but that is my personal opinion. I had the rhythm’ - and admitted to being a ‘nightmare’ to play with because he is so vocal on the pitch.

He will now hope to be on-song moving forward.