Hughes: We have mental toughness to cope

SHELDAN KEAY

MARK Hughes insists that a lack of confidence won’t be a problem for the Accrington Stanley squad despite their recent struggles in League Two this year.

Stanley were at an all-time high last season when they narrowly missed out on promotion to League One after finishing in the play-off places, but it has been a completely different story for the side this time around.

The Reds are struggling near the bottom of the table after finding things very tough during this campaign, but defender Hughes has revealed that the team is mentally strong enough to cope.

“We knew confidence wasn’t at its highest and that’s what happens when you’ve been losing games but this is a club where you never change no matter what the results are,” he told the club’s official website. “I think it’s the best club I’ve been at when results are going bad because we stick to the way we want to play.

“I’ve been at clubs where you start playing the percentage ball or just kick the ball as far as you can from your own goal but we keep playing the same way and believing we’re doing the right things. That’s what the gaffer and Jimmy have installed in us. It hasn’t been easy and we all knew we needed to start scoring again. Any player will tell you how important that is and that’s we managed to do a few weeks ago against Woking, and we ended up seeing it out pretty comfortably.”