Reds return in rude health
Stanley register back-to-back away wins following Covid-enforced break in action
THE harsh lessons of last winter will keep John Coleman’s squad grounded after they returned to League One action with a bang, winning back-to-back games on the road to move within four points of the play-offs.
The Reds were knocked out the FA Cup recently having ended a three and a half week enforced break when Covid-19 swept through the squad.
But they followed up last week’s EFL Trophy win at Barrow with a stunning double at Northampton and Swindon to set up a tasty return home tomorrow when they take on Lincoln City at the Wham Stadium.
The Red Imps occupy the last play-off spot going into the game but have lost their last two matches, so Coley and his troops will be eyeing an opportunity to add to their miserable run.
However, talk of contending play-offs and promotion will not cloud the manager’s assessment regardless of the result.
“We’ve got a really good balance in the squad but we’re not getting carried away, we know we’re a work in progress and we hope we can improve as the season goes on,” he said.
“I’ve been around this game long enough to know not to get carried away. Last December we won five games on the spin and I got Manager of the Month – then we couldn’t buy a win for six or seven weeks! So I never get carried away, I know luck plays a big part and we had a big slice of it at Swindon with the first goal. Those are the things that can go against you when you’re down at the bottom.
“We won’t be under any illusions, we know we have got to work really hard and keep going in the right direction with regards to our passing and ingenuity in the final third and we can still be more ruthless. We made more than enough chances to score more than three goals on Tuesday and didn’t take them – that’s something we will continue to work on.”
Coleman is looking for a similarly front-foot display tomorrow against Lincoln.
“Wherever we play we have got to try to win the game, doesn’t matter of that’s home or away,” he said.
“We have to play at full throttle, on the front foot and try to pass the ball as well as we did at Swindon on Tuesday.”
The slice of luck Coleman referred to came when Joe Fryer slipped as he attempted to clear a back pass and the ball trickled into the net just six minutes into the clash.
That put Stanley in the box seat and two more first-half strikes from Colby Bishop and Dion Charles – a stunning team effort – all but wrapped up the result before the interval.
It followed a 1-0 win at Northampton four days earlier, where Jon Russell scored the only goal of the game.
“We played really well in the first half and created chances - we were rueing the fact we’d missed quite a few, similar to the game at Northampton on Saturday, but we managed to get the second and third goals,” said Coleman after the victory at Swindon in midweek.
“Credit to Swindon, they had a go in the second half and pinned us back, could and should have taken a couple of chances and then we were looking to counter and had a couple of chances ourselves that we fluffed. In the end I thought we deserved to win the game and the third goal, if that was Barcelona and Messi scoring that, it’s getting shown seven or eight times a day on the tele!
“We know that we can play that kind of football and it’s just a case of playing them spells longer in the game, with more consistency and making sure you score during those spells. We have to start playing well for longer.
“We were similar to that against Ipswich in our last defeat away from home and we didn’t score a goal during our spell of domination and they came on strong in the second half and beat us.
“We are stilllearning, the lads are still young – but there is a great appetite in the squad.
“We’re still getting our legs back from the illness that spread through the squad, the Covid, so all in all you have to be pleased.”
Meanwhile, Stanley’s Sky Bet League One fixture against Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday 24th November has been moved to a 7pm kick-off.
The game was originally due to kick-off at 7.45pm, but has now been brought forward.