Coleman: ‘I am happy with the result, but I thought we could have played better.’
ACCRINGTON Stanley moved into the automatic promotion places with a convincing win over League Two opposition Crewe Alexandra at Gresty Road on Saturday.
A goal from the spot from forward Billy Kee inside ten minutes opened the scoring, before Jordan Clark’s rebounded header moments later saw the Lancashire side come out on top.
It means the Reds are now just two points behind top of the table Luton Town, but manager John Coleman felt there were positives and negatives on display.
“I am happy with the result, but I thought we could have played better.
“We let Crewe dominate the game in the first half even though we were 2-0 up,” he said.
“I thought we played quite well in the second half; we did not have much to struggle with until the very end.
“Overall, I feel that it was a pleasing afternoon for us, and now we have just got to keep going, throwing in as much as we can.”
After a frantic start, Stanley opened the scoring early on, as Michael Raynes clumsily brought down Kee inside the box, with referee Blackman branding the centre-back a yellow card and issuing a penalty kick to Accrington.
From the spot, Stanley’s striker Kee made no mistake, sending goalkeeper Dave Richards in the opposite direction, drilling the ball into the bottom left-hand corner to open proceedings.
On the 15 minutes mark, applause broke out around the ground from both sets of supporters, in Perry Ng went a glorious curling attempt from outside the box, with goalkeeper Aaron Chapman off his line.
His shot, however, flew over the bar.
The heavens opened during the break, making for a slippery pitch, but that did not stop Stanley creating slick passes and pieces of interplay.
Anchor-man Liam Nolan went for an audacious attempt to ensure the win but it went over.
Half-way through the second period, Callum Ainley dribbled through and fed in Cooper, whose shot went safely into the grasp of Chapman.
Then, goalscorer Kee, on the edge of the box, looked to triple Stanley’s lead, with a speculative strike, but his effort