Boco puts Stanley before country (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Boco puts Stanley before country

10:50am Tuesday 19th March 2013 in Football By Suzanne Geldard, Burnley FC reporter

STANLEY star Rommy Boco has put his club before his country, to boost Accrington’s fight for survival.

The Reds host AFC Wimbledon in a key bottom of the table clash tonight, fresh from Saturday’s confidence-boosting win over Barnet.

Boco would normally have travelled to meet up with his Benin team-mates the following day, as they prepare for their World Cup qualifying game against Algeria next Tuesday.

But he was granted permission to remain with the Reds until after tonight’s crunch clash.

“Normally I am meant to go on the Sunday but they allowed me to stay a couple of days extra to play because of our situation,” the popular midfielder explained.

“Everyone else was meeting on Sunday in France but they understand the situation of the club and let me stay. That’s a good thing and fair play to them as well.

“It’s not my country that pays my wage, and I have to make sure I’ve got a job, simple as.”

Stanley remained at the foot of the League Two table, despite Lee Molyneux’s hat-trick securing an important 3-2 win over fellow relegation battlers Barnet, who are among five teams – including the Reds – now level on 40 points.

Boco knows how big a boost it would be to back up Saturday’s success with another three-point haul tonight and stop 18th placed AFC Wimbledon, who are just five points above them, in their tracks.

“They keep winning. They were down – Barnet and Wimbledon about six months ago were guaranteed to go down and now they keep picking points up,” he said.

“It’s going to be a tough game. They’ve won two games away lately so they’re going to come here with big confidence because they keep winning away.

“It’s up to us to be strong and try to get a point at least, three if that’s possible.

“Saturday was a very important win when you look at the league table now – it’s very tight, so it’s a good lift before tonight to get a result and get higher up the league.

“We’ve always thought we were going to get out of it, but sometimes it’s hard to get points.

“That’s why everybody tries to be safe before the last 10 games because teams at the bottom of the league can beat anyone. We have to play Gillingham, we’re going to try to win. It’s going to be tough for them with their situation now but we just want points to get out of trouble.”

Boco will miss Saturday’s trip to the table topping Gills, because of his international commitments. But while the 27-year-old will be thousands of miles away, his Accrington team-mates will never be far from his thoughts.

“I’ll be on BBC live score to see what’s happening and I’ll be on the phone as well,” he said.

“Hopefully we will have a positive result.

“We shouldn’t think about how we play, just how many points we can get quickly to be safe.”