Promotion Coleman’s primary aim
SHELDAN KEAY
ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman has revealed that he would be happy to finish in third place if he was offered it now.
The Reds are three points clear at the top of the League Two table, with Luton Town and Wycombe Wanderers occupying the other promotion places.
While Coleman admits that finishing as champions would be a fantastic achievement for the club, his main goal is just to earn promotion.
“It would be lovely to win the league and we will strive to do that but first and foremost the prize is to get promoted. If we can surpass that and win the league, that’s smashing, but if someone offered me third place now I would bite their hand off,” he told the club’s official website. “We are going to have blips in our last games but you cannot get too high or too low, all we can do is keep working hard.
“I think that’s what sets us apart from other teams in League Two, our work-rate.
“We have to play a lot of the teams around us but there are no easy games whether you are playing teams at the top or the bottom as Chesterfield showed by beating Notts County last week. You’ve got to be consistent in your approach and pick up the points, which thankfully we have done in recent weeks.
“We have a way to approach the game, we play a certain way and we have found a way to pick up points, especially since Christmas.
“One of the things you can taste around the place is how keen, hungry and excited the players are about the whole end of the season. You can feel how much they have got their bit between their teeth.”
Coleman has been extremely pleased with his side’s efforts in recent weeks, and believes his team are also finally starting to get a bit of luck going their way.
“You have to have some luck when you go on a run of winning games and we have had some luck,” he said.
“Belief, confidence and momentum is huge in football. Sometimes you come off the pitch wondering how you have won, saying that sometimes you walk off the pitch after playing well and wonder how you haven’t won.
“We have found a way to play and it has been successful, we have a great team spirit and character and there are nine big performances needed.
“When you are doing well, it’s inevitable that you will attract attention.
“You have just to get on with it and it’s great that people are talking about us for the right reason but I wish it was when everything is over and done with.”