No deadline day rush signings, no losing one of our best players at the last minute, leaving a gaping hole in our starting line up, no losing out on a potential signing to a bigger club. This Tuesday was a very quiet day at the Greenhous Meadow and that’s been somewhat of a rarity over the last few seasons.

For a manager who signed six new players signed on either a permanent or loan deal on the same day last year Graham Turner has been unusually quiet during this years usually hectic period.

With one addition to the squad brought in, West Brom striker Romaine Saywers on a one month loan deal, one would suspect that Mr Turner certainly believes that this year his squad are more than equipped to finally seal promotion.

The question every town fan has been asking is does our squad contain enough depth to successfully battle on and seal promotion come May and should we have brought one or two more players to help boost our chances.

We currently possess one of the smaller squads in the division with only just over 20 players currently on the books. Whilst our Midfield appears to be the strongest part of our team, I believe Turner should have looked into bringing some cover in at the back. With only seven defenders in the squad and with two of them (Sherriff and Hazzell) out injured all it takes now is another injury or even a suspension and we may be forced to cope with a make shift defence, which is not what is needed at such a vital time in the campaign.

With other teams around us in the league making big name signings during the window and on the final day some fans could argue that we have made a mistake by not signing up anybody. Crawley completed the biggest deals of the day in the division, saying goodbye to top goal scorer Matthew Tubbs and welcoming Billy Clarke to the club, a player who has proven his goal scoring prowess at this level on numerous occasions in the past. With the loan signing of highly rated Arsenal youngster Sanchez Watt completed earlier in the week as well, Steve Evans’s men are beginning to look even stronger going into the second half of the campaign.

Rather than looking at the lack of signing’s we should be looking at the players we have managed to keep hold of. Lionel Ainsworth and Jon Taylor, two of the best wingers in the division were both tipped with moves away from the club in August and no doubt some of those clubs would have been sniffing around again during January following promising starts to the season from both of them. Striker Terry Gornell was linked with a move to league one Rochdale to reacquaint himself with former Accrington manager John Coleman. Had we lost any of these players it would have been a huge blow to our promotion hopes.

So does Turner not signing anyone demonstrate a lack of ambition like some fans have suggested? I think it will be beneficial for us as a team going into the second half of the season, the players have gelled together well and with no new faces coming in there is little chance of someone causing problems within the team. If we can continue to play the way we have done so far this campaign then I believe that this could finally be our year to seal promotion.

By Liam Hoofe 

[ad_pod id='writer-2' align='right']