Reds in a crisis admits Coley
‘It is a crisis. We are in a relegation battle and we have got to knuckle down and improve’
ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman says that his side are currently in a crisis and have to seriously knuckle down and improve or they will be relegated from League One this season.
The Reds suffered their third straight league defeat on Saturday as they were beaten 2-1 at home to Southend United. Charlie Kelman and Jason Demetriou scored the goals for Southend at the Wham Stadium to earn Sol Campbell his first league win as manager at the 12th attempt of asking, despite a strike from Dion Charles for Stanley.
It then didn’t get any easier for Coleman’s men on Tuesday, as they were also knocked out of the EFL Trophy in midweek after a 2-1 defeat against Salford City at the Peninsula Stadium.
While Accrington may still be seven points above the relegation zone, the recent form worries Coleman, and he hopes it dramatically improves as soon as possible.
“It is a crisis. We should have been 7-1 up at halftime against Southend but if you don’t take your chances you will get punished,” he said.
“We had enough chances to win four games and it’s not really well done to Southend because we have fluffed our lines and we have to regroup and go again.
“It was a penalty for them and when they got that they got their tails up when they should have been dead and buried. In the second half, we had around five good chances and we didn’t even work their keeper.
“It’s not good enough. In the first half we were breath-taking but couldn’t find the finishing touch and in the second half we were diabolical.
“We are in a relegation battle and we have got to knuckle down and improve or else we are going down.”
Accrington will look to end their run of defeats and get back to winning ways on Saturday when they make the trip to Burton Albion.
It will be a difficult game for the Reds at the Pirelli Stadium, as Burton are in good form and have won their last three matches, leaving them in ninth place, just two points outside the play-off positions.
The most recent of those wins came in midweek, when they defeated MK Dons 1-0 at home. Liam Boyce scored his 14th goal of the season to earn the Brewers the victory.
Stanley will be hoping to produce a similar performance to the one they put in when they went up against Burton in the reverse fixture earlier this season, recording a 2-0 victory at the Wham Stadium in
December. Sean McConville and Ross Sykes netted for the home side in each half to earn them the win last month.