When Accrington Stanley beat Peterborough 1-0 at London Road on 4th October they found themselves at the heady heights of fourth place in League One - the highest ever place in their history.

It hasn't gone quite so well since then. The last eleven League games have brought only two wins (0-3 v Plymouth and 2-1 v Shrewsbury) and they have dropped to 14th. They haven't scored in their last three games (losing 0-4 at home to Peterborough; 0-3 at Bradford and drawing 0-0 with Bristol Rovers.) Nevertheless, they are eight healthy points above the relegation places and they continue to punch above their weight.

In addition, they are enjoying a good run in the FA Cup. They secured a place in the fourth round by beating Ipswich 1-0. Their reward is a home tie with Derby County.

Leading scorers Billy Kee (9) and Sean McCinville (8) have both been at the club for the past four seasons. After failing to break through at Leicester, Kee was loaned to Stanley in 2009-10. He played for Torquay, Burton and Scunthorpe before returning to Accrington in 2015. He scored 25 goals in last season's promotion to League One. McConville began his career at Stanley in 2009 and returned in 2015 after spells at Barrow and Stockport.

Accrington have also recently secured loan deals for striker Luke Armstrong from Middlesbrough and defender Liam Gibson from Newcastle.

Charlton's performance at Shrewsbury suggested that an automatic promotion place is not out of the question. Johnny Williams brought class and spark. Sarr was absolutely nabulous. Taylor was imperious and Grant got there eventually. Unusually, there didn't appear to be any injuries. Lee Bowyer has said he is happy with the squad he has available but that he would like to bring in a striker: "We'll see who is available towards the end of the window and we'll weigh up our options then". He said that he is aware of Glasgow Rangers' interest in Karlan Grant but that the club are working on a new contract to keep the young striker at The Valley.

He expects Saturday's game to be tough. "it's going to be physical and we need to be ready for that and to match that". Lyle Taylor is only two yellow cards away from a suspension so we can only hope that he can play with his usual aggression while keeping on the right side of the referee.

One more converted penalty would set a new club record of ten in a season with three months still to play.