Brave rearguard action earns gaffer’s praise

CALUM JOHNSON

ACCRINGTON manager John Coleman praised his side’s staunch defending after Stanley survived early pressure to record a goalless stalemate with Bolton Wanderers.

It was the first time since February 11 that The Accies have kept a clean sheet, and Coleman was delighted with his team’s battling performance after bringing Joe Maguire and Harvey Rodgers into defence alongside Sykes and Johnson.

“We had Ross Sykes struggling from the first five minutes with a dead leg, he could hardly run,” Coleman said.

“Harvey [Rodgers] hasn’t played for ages. Joe Maguire hasn’t played a lot of football so there’s excuses, but we don’t want to make excuses for our defence.

“They stuck to the task really well and I thought in the second half we defended really well. Harvey got better as the game went on – he got stronger, he made important tackles.

“You could see he was blowing, and he was tiring, because he hasn’t played a lot of football, but that’s testament to the lad’s character.”

Sykes was replaced by Opoku in the second half against Bolton, but Coleman eased fears that Stanley were set to lose another defender to injury. They’re going down like flies, or nine pins should I say.

“I think he [Sykes] will be okay. It’s a dead leg I think. Aji [Alese] is struggling with his back but I thought Jerome [Opoku] acquitted himself really well when he came on.

“He looked strong in the centre of defence and that gives us another option.”

The Reds were again without experienced centre back Mark Hughes, but coped well in his absence to shut Bolton out.

Despite the positives, however, Coleman confirmed that the defender was likely to be out for the remainder of the season, joining Sean McConville on The Reds’ long-term injury list.

“It’s a tear in the calf and it’s something that just doesn’t get right overnight.

“Mark played probably 85 minutes with it against

Rotherham and that’s the type of character he is. He gave it his best shot and he possibly made it a bit worse.

“I know from myself, you don’t like coming off the pitch unless you have to, and Mark thought he could get through and he did get through.”

Coleman took encouragement from his side’s defensive solidity ahead of the arrival of Tranmere Rovers on Saturday, and praised the way his team grew into the game against Bolton after a difficult opening period. He said: “We’ve conceded eight goals in three games, and that was a worry. Now, I would have liked to have won this game, but I’m certainly not going to say we should be winning this game because Bolton are a good side and they showed that in the first half. No-one has done what they did to us in the first half all season, so it bodes well for the future for them.

“But second half we were more like ourselves and it’s just a pity we couldn’t get a goal to cap it off and get the three points.”