Coley: We must keep our heads

‘We’ve got to just keep believing in the way that we play football’

ACCRINGTON Stanley manager John Coleman has stressed that his team haven’t won anything yet despite moving to the top of the League Two table.

The Reds won 2-1 at Luton Town on Saturday when Billy Kee netted in the third minute of injurytime, earning Stanley the victory at Kenilworth Road, and knocking Luton off the top of the table for the first time since November.

While Accrington now find themselves in an extremely strong position to earn promotion, Coleman insists that his players can’t get ahead of themselves.

“We won nothing against Luton apart from a game of football. It was just three points, like it was when we beat Morecambe last week, there is still a long way to go,” he said. “We’ve made a big step in the right direction but we just need to keep our heads down and concentrate on playing foot- ball. The win means so much to the players but we are now the ones to be shot at. We’ve got to take that mantle and embrace it, just like Luton have over the past few months.

“I said to the players before the Luton game, ‘what is the worst thing that can happen if we lose?’ We wouldn’t be out of the title race or out of the promotion race either.

“Most professional players in the world feel pressure and tension, so we’ve got to just keep believing in the way that we play football.

“Luton have some top players, so to nullify them the way that we did it’s good. It’s great for our defence too as they’re young lads, but they’re taking to these games like ducks to water.”

There were just over 200 Accrington fans for the game against Luton, and while they may have been heavily outnumbered by the home supporters, Coleman felt the Stanley supporters helped to make a big difference.

“The fans were absolutely unbelievable against Luton. You’d have thought we had 2500 there never mind 200, and I can’t praise them highly enough,” he said.

“The away fans make it worthwhile. We see them at the home games and we know most of them, and we’re glad to get the win for them.”

Accrington will now try to continue their good run of form when they return to the Wham Stadium to host Forest Green Rovers on Saturday.

Forest Green are in 20th place in the table, having won just one of their last four games. Stanley picked up a 1-0 win when the two teams met in the reverse fixture at the New Lawn earlier in the season, with Seamus Conneely’s second half goal proving to be the difference back in September.