Gaffer bemoans side’s loss of form

ACCRINGTON Stanley manager John Coleman feels he may never get the chance to take a side to Wembley after the Reds were beaten 2-1 by Salford City in the EFL Trophy.

Stanley took the lead through Sam Finley at the

Peninsula Stadium, but goals from Cameron Burgess and Tom Elliott earned League Two Salford the win and knocked Stanley out of the competition at the quarter-final stage.

Coleman is disappointed to miss out on another chance to go to Wembley, and insists that the players need to buck their ideas up immediately.

“I’m running out of opportunities to get to Wembley. The club hasn’t been there but I’m desperate to get there,” he said.

“I’ve never taken a team to Wembley. I’ll probably be dead in eight or nine years so my time is running out, I just wish our players realise the gravity of the situations they find themselves in. I wish I had these opportunities when I was playing.

“I’ve got to question myself first and foremost. We’re not good enough at the moment, and we don’t go from being the form team in the league to becoming a bad team overnight.

“It’s taken us four weeks. We’re a shadow of the team that were blowing Portsmouth, Bolton and Burton away. I don’t know why it’s changed, and I can’t put my finger on it.

“We’ve got to snap out of it or we’ll get relegated.

“We’ve worked hard to stay in this league so we can’t go out like we’re sleepwalking.

“There are so many mistakes getting made, and it’s basic errors.

“Maybe I haven’t assembled a strong enough squad, so it’s maybe time to give other players a chance because the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”