Next season we will challenge!
ACCRINGTON Stanley manager John Coleman believes that his side should be back challenging for promotion again next season.
The Reds came agonisingly close to going up last year, dropping out of the League Two automatic places on the final day of the campaign before then losing in the play-off semi-finals.
Coleman hoped his team would be one of the main contenders again this season, but they have found things extremely tough and currently find themselves involved in a relegation battle near the bottom of the table.
The Stanley boss thinks the team is still good enough to challenge near the top, and feels they will do that next season if they avoid relegation.
“I believe we have had a team this year that could have challenged for promotion and, if we stay in the league this year, we will be going all out to get promotion next season,” he told the club’s official website.
“I think we have played as well as we did last season but we have not been clinical enough and ultimately that has cost us.
“Luck has a big part of football, I think we are creating the same number of chances but sometimes they go in and sometimes they don’t and you are scratching your head.
“I would say though that this year has been a freak year. Last year, where we may have got the rub of the green to an extent on incidents, this year is the complete opposite.
“We got a number of penalties for us last year and we haven’t got as many this year, while we have had more penalties against us.
“We have also had more sendings off this year compared to last season and we are not a physical or dirtier team.
“It can all stack up and it’s a combination of incidents which can go for you or go against you and this year they seem to have gone against us.
“We believe we won’t go down this season, we believe we are capable of winning enough games to stay up but you can never say never.”
Stanley will now try to pick up a win when they are back in action on Saturday with a home game against Barnet.
The two teams have already met once this season, with Barnet picking up a 2-0 victory in the reverse fixture back in August.
Goals from John Akinde and Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro either side of halftime condemned the Reds to defeat.
Victory for Accrington at the Wham Stadium this weekend could see them climb as high as 18th if other results go their way, but a defeat my leave them just three points clear of the relegation zone.
‘If we stay in the league this year, we will be going all out to get promotion next season’