One point out of fifteen isn't great but Beattie has had injuries and suspensions to key players to deal with. It was always going to be something of an unknown going into the season with a new manager. I don't think you can look at the table and draw anything from it until 10/15 games in.
Attendances are worrying, but they've always been results dependent. People come to see a winning Accrington team and don't come to see one that is losing. This is the time when the marketing really needs to step up and support the club and I am encouraged by the improvements on this front lately. The unfortunate situation with Rob won't have impacted attendances one iota. There's one more person coming through the gate if anything...
The fact that we didn't sign a striker last night is largely irrelevant. It's slightly annoying given that Marcus went out on loan and it was paperwork that held things up but the incoming loan can be worked out soon enough. I'm looking forward to seeing Webbs back in the team with Naismith playing behind him - this could really turn into something exciting for us.
With regards to midfield I too have been disappointed with what has been shown so far but am hopeful that once injuries clear up we'll be better. Our best midfield player so far has been Peter Murphy. Once Nicky Hunt is back at full-back we'll be able to reinstate Peter there alongside Joyce (who has always been unfairly criticised on this board). In the meantime I'd like to see Luke Clark being given more game time either at full back or in midfield. He's such a promising player and it'd be a shame to see him never really play for us at the expense of a loanee like Richardson. Richardson has found it extremely difficult at this level and I don't rate him at all, but will trust Beattie's judgment.
The signing of Bettinelli is a massive positive for us - I hope he stays fit and healthy as his signing until the end of the season gives us one less thing to worry about.
I think things are getting better and we'll see our first win soon enough. We didn't deserve to win the Burton game by far but we were much more coherent in our play and the loss was cruel. We'll see our first win soon enough.
Keep the faith.