Accrington Stanley boss John Coleman expects a 'cracking' game against Sunderland as his side prepare for their final pre-season friendly this afternoon. The Black Cats head to the Crown Ground to take on Stanley in what will be Alex Neil's side's penultimate friendly.
But for Accrington, this is their dress rehearsal before they begin their League One campaign at home to Charlton Athletic next Saturday. Coleman said: "The games have been coming thick and fast and with the heat [this week] it tends to feel like it's coming all the while.
"It's another cracking game. Sunderland will be well-supported and the atmosphere should be good. We do to tend to turn up when we have a big crowd here so let's hope we do that on Saturday."
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The Lancashire side's pre-season schedule has included games against four Championship teams - Blackburn Rovers, Stoke City, Preston North End, and Wigan Athletic - ahead of Sunderland's visit, but Accrington have drawn blanks in their last two outings, losing at home to Preston last weekend and then fighting out a goalless draw against Wigan in midweek. Stanley have also sold last season's top scorer Colby Bishop to Portsmouth this week, further depleting their firepower.
"We've played against Championship defences," said Coleman of the Preston and Wigan games, "but we won't be playing against them in a week's time.
"We made chances [against Wigan] with some great balls in and we just have to keep peppering away, and hopefully we will get the rewards for our efforts."
Neil named an entirely different side for the midweek trip to Bradford than the one that started last weekend's friendly at Dundee United, and he is again expected to make changes this afternoon. Neil is keen to get as many players as possible a full 90 minutes before the season starts, and amongst the players who have yet to play a full game are striker Ross Stewart and centre-back Bailey Wright.
But Sunderland do have one more friendly still to come, with a trip to Hartlepool United coming up on Monday evening. One player who is set to miss out on today's game at Accrington is young goalkeeper Jacob Carney who played at Bradford but has since picked up a knee injury, meaning Adam Richardson will travel to Lancashire along with first choice Anthony Patterson.
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