Let's look to the future for Stanley

This week has been a difficult one for lots of reasons - a lack of Stanley goals, a lack of Stanley fans and a brand new roof, but no rain to test it out.

Yes, the completion of the roof on the Sophia Khan terrace has coincided with a mini heatwave in Accrington, and it is most definitely t-shirt weather on the Clayton End.

The lack of Stanley goals was sorted out in fine fashion with the new red forward line-up looking potent. Roscoe Dsane (pictured) has great pace and vision and, although he did not score on Saturday, he had the Grimsby defenders tied up in knots.

Brushing over our defensive lapse against Oldham and concentrating on the solid performance the back four gave on Saturday, things are looking a lot better than they did this time last week, and there lies the problem with being a true football fan.

One week you are down in the dumps and the next you are on Cloud Nine. We put our heart and soul into supporting our favourite team and the joy that goes with victory is proportionate to the pain inflicted by a defeat.

The papers have been full of talk about the missing Stanley fans over the past week or so and I say it is time to move on and concentrate on the fans of tomorrow.

The Ultras carried on singing for 20 minutes after the final whistle on Saturday in a show of support for their footballing heroes, the average age of the lads singing would not have been more than 17 and these are the fans we need to look after.

If you have followed Stanley, as I have, from Buxton to Whitley Bay then there is as a pride that has come with our non-league past and our rise to the dizzy heights of the Football League.

However, if you are a youngster coming up, what makes Stanley a better bet than our larger neighbours?

We can stand up and sing, the playing surface is close enough to touch and the players come for a pint with you in the bar afterwards.

There, that's three things for a start!