by Ben Baker
PIERO Mingoia has started every Accrington Stanley game for 14 months – and now the midfielder is determined to ensure the club don't miss out on a promotion party.
It took a while for John Coleman to warm to Mingoia when the manager replaced James Beattie in September 2014 for his second spell at the club. He immediately dropped the player.
But Mingoia worked his way back into Coleman's plans and, heading into yesterday's clash with Cambridge, had started every Stanley game since January 27 last year – a run of 64 matches.
The 24-year-old's run in the side has coincided with Stanley shedding their mid-table tag.
They hosted the U's yesterday just one place and a point outside the automatic promotion places.
Stanley fans haven't had it this good since they lost the League Two play-off semi-final 3-0 on aggregate to Stevenage in the 2010-11 campaign.
But Mingoia believes the current crop can bypass the lottery of the play-offs altogether this time around. The ever-present No.7 insists he and his team-mates have plenty left in the tank.
“We are all really happy with the current form the team is showing, and the mood in the camp is high at the moment,”said the Watford academy graduate.
“But, in this case, you don't want to let it get too high as there is still work to be done. We need to stay level headed because, since day one, we have said we want to achieve certain things and now we are in with a shout of doing that.
“Everyone is finding that last little bit of energy needed. Each win brings confidence and we are starting to believe in what we can achieve this season.
“When we started off, it was a case of getting as many points as we could in our first ten games to see where we were when the table started to take shape.
“Then we wanted to get near the play-offs and we did that. Now we want to get into that top three. I think it would be a shame if we didn't and it is certainly a realistic goal right now.
“I have been here three years and have seen a bit of everything. We were fighting relegation when I first arrived and then moved up to be a mid-table team – and now we are pushing for automatic promotion. It would be great to see this club in League One.
“When the gaffer first arrived, he didn't know some of us and had his own guys that he brought in, which you can understand. But I worked hard to show what I could do and I am proud of the run of games I have played since.
“And, to be fair, the gaffer and assistant Jimmy Bell have been great. They want us to play good, attacking football on the floor, which has obviously given us great results. Hopefully, it will continue.”
Whatever happens on the pitch between now and the end of the season, off it things have never looked better, with plans in place for a multi-million pound redevelopment of the Crown Ground.
And, with star striker Billy Kee this week extending his stay at the club until the summer of 2018, Mingoia believes this is just the start of Stanley's ascent.
“There is a lot going for this club at the moment, with talk of a new stadium and a new training ground and things like that. It is a great place to be,” he added.
“And it was great to hear that Billy had signed a new deal because he has been unbelievable this season. I saw some stats flying around on Twitter about the amount of goals he has set up and scored being the highest in all four leagues in England. That speaks for itself really, doesn't it?
“He holds up the ball so well and makes great runs into the box to get on the end of crosses and he has been great for us. Long may that continue.”
*This article was originally published in The FLP on 3 April 2016.
