Now in their tenth season in the Football League, Saturday’s opponents Accrington Stanley have made the kind of start which could lead to greater national acclaim than they have received since those immortal words were uttered in a milk advert in the 1980s.

“Accrington Stanley, who are they?”

“Exactly.”

Some 30-odd years later and Stanley have not only risen from the bottom of the non-league pyramid to become a fixture in League Two, they are now in distinct danger of breaking new ground and competing for a place in the third tier.

Under manager John Coleman, who took Stanley into the Football League by winning the Conference in 2006 before quitting for Rochdale in January 2012, the Merseyside outfit are seventh in the table – just two points off the automatic promotion places.

Coleman, who was sacked after a year at Spotland and went on to manage Southport and Sligo Rovers briefly, returned to the Crown Ground in September of last year and guided Accrington to the safety of 17th.

With a limited budget and small gates survival alone has been an achievement for the last decade, though in 2011 Stanley reached the League Two play-offs – thanks to a fine run-in – only to lose out 3-0 to Stevenage over two legs.

Finishes of 14th, 18th, 15th and 17th have followed under Paul Cook, Leam Richardson and most recently former England and Southampton striker James Beattie.

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Coleman moved quickly during the summer to ensure the club’s tenth season in the Football League would not be more of the same and pulled off one of the coups of the transfer window by signing Scunthorpe United striker Billy Kee.

The 24-year-old was already known to Stanley fans after notching nine times in just 15 league starts whilst on loan from Leicester City during the 2009/10 season.

He would leave the Foxes for good that summer and joined Torquay United, scoring nine goals in 18 league starts. After a solitary season at Plainmoor he was picked up by Burton Albion and it was with the Brewers that the former Northern Ireland Under-21 cap truly found his feet.

A return of 39 goals in 70 league starts for Burton saw him move to Glanford Park last summer without making a League One start for the Iron. He spent time on loan at Mansfield Town before being freed in the summer.

With three in five starts for Stanley in the league already, there is plenty to suggest Kee will prove just that for Coleman’s men.

He also has history with Barnet, scoring a hat-trick in a 6-3 win in 2011 and rattling in seven goals in eight games against the Bees.

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Leading the scoring charts for Stanley, though, is midfielder Josh Windass, the son of former Hull City icon Dean.

The 21-year-old midfielder scored six times in League Two last season as he made his breakthrough picking up 35 appearances.

However, the former Harrogate Railway Athletic and Huddersfield Town youngster has already plundered the same figure in just 11 games this term.

But it was the goalscoring form of midfielder Matt Crooks – with two stunners in as many games at the end of September – which saw him nominated for the League Two Player of the Month award, losing out to Barnet’s Michael Gash.

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There was representation for Stanley in the Manager of the Month category too, Coleman beating off competition from Carlisle United’s Keith Curle, Notts County’s Ricardo Moniz and Luton Town’s John Still to scoop the gong on Friday morning.

Stanley won all four league fixtures last month and had been as high as fourth before a 3-1 loss at home to Oxford United last weekend.

Accrington Stanley XI v Oxford United (3.10.15): Mooney; Wakefield, Pearson, Wright, Buxton; Mingoia, Crooks, Conneely, McConville; Windass, Kee