Coley purring at Pompey victory
STANLEY manager John Coleman described his side as breathtaking following their emphatic 4-1 win over Portsmouth on Saturday.
Two goals from Colby
Bishop, along with a Dion Charles strike and a Ellis Harrison own goal earned the Reds the win, despite it being 1-1 at half-time after Portsmouth netted through Ronan Curtis.
The emphatic win means Stanley are unbeaten in their last three league games, and Coleman was very impressed with what he saw.
“I’m delighted with the lads. They’ve got their rewards for their efforts. We had spoken about getting back to passing the ball and we were mixing the game up a little bit,” he said.
“We weren’t taking too many undue risks, but started to get back to playing the way we know we can play which is very much a passing based game and pressing.
“We’ve played similar to that this season, but the ball just hasn’t hit the back of the net, but against Portsmouth it did. For the first 40 minutes you were thinking it wouldn’t, because we made chances and hit the woodwork twice like we always do.
“We handled the setback of going behind against a good Portsmouth side. They’ve been unbeaten for a good spell; and they’ve climbed the table and will be right up there come the end of the season.
“You’ve got to earn that right and you do that by working hard. We worked ever so hard and we ran ourselves into the ground.
“I don’t think even the most hardened of Portsmouth fans can say we didn’t deserve the win. We knew it was going to be a tough game so we applied ourselves really well and the players took on board everything that I said to them during the week.
“When we play that type of football, some of what we played in the second half was breathtaking and the first half to be fair, but the second half was full of nice touches.
“That comes with confidence, when the ball is going in the net then them back heels start coming off and people are always running onto the second balls and we’re having shots. It’s great to watch and it’s great for the fans to watch and it must be great to play in.”
The result has left Stanley in 17th place in the League One table, five points above the relegation zone, while Portsmouth are in 10th position.
Up next for Accrington is an away game, as they make the trip to the Keepmoat Stadium to face Doncaster Rovers. Doncaster are in 14th place in the division, but a win for Coleman’s men would see them leapfrog their opponents in the table.