Coleman hails stingy Stanley
THE season of goodwill to all men may be upon us, but John Coleman is encouraging his Accrington Stanley side to keep up their tight-fisted ways.
The Reds moved up to ninth in League One with a goalless draw against third-placed Lincoln City on Saturday and then beat Crewe 1-0 in midweek to stretch their unbeaten run to five games.
It’s a sequence that has moved them to within six points of the automatic promotion places with games in hand on all the teams above them.
And the foundation for that run of form has been a stringy defence which has gone almost nine hours without conceding a goal.
“That’s something to cling to,” said Coleman, whose side are without a game this weekend but travel to Shrewsbury on Wednesday.
“We knew we had to improve and we have, but there is still a long way to go and we certainly don’t get carried away at this club – we know it’s all about hard work and now we have to focus on a massive game. Hopefully we can get some rest into their legs at the weekend but then it’s a massive game coming up against Shrewsbury.
“I think it’s a blessing we don’t have a game this weekend and I said that when we went out of the FA Cup.
“The games are going to come thick and fast – are we over the Covid? I don’t know, but you wouldn’t know it the way the lads ran around against Crewe.
“We have to prepare for the season, not just the week. We’ll give the lads what they need and hopefully we’ll be in optimal condition when we play Shrewsbury next week.
“You want to be in the mix but I never get carried away with games in hand – you can see them as damaging your goal difference.
“We just want to try to win games Whoever we play against, wherever we play, we just want to try to win the game.”
Colby Bishop netted the only goal of the game against Crewe and Coleman believes the frontman is back to his best having missed much of the season with injury.
“Colby came back for pre-season flying and it was such a frustration for everyone that he got the injury which kept him out for four or five weeks,” he said.
“He is back to his best and he is a handful at this level. No one will want to play against him – he wins his headers, he’s tireless, makes intelligent runs and his link up play is good.
“Colby was magnificent and led the line brilliantly, deserved his goal and probably could have had a couple more.
“I have to say I’ve never seen a save like the one the keeper pulled off that led to our goal – he was like Inspector Gadget! His arms came from nowhere!
“I’ll take 1-0 every week against a good side – against any side – but certainly when you are playing against a team who are trying to out-pass you on your own pitch.
“There are two ways of playing and we do like to pass it, but we have managed to add a little bit more steel into our game and I think that is paying off.
I have to say, I thought our lads defended magnificently again, they won headers, won challenges and threw their bodies in and when we had to call on Dion as an auxiliary right wing-back he stuck to his task really well.
“If Crewe keep playing like that they will win more games than they lose and will probably give the better sides a shock because they will have more of the ball against the better sides.
“It was a tough game, I’ve watched a lot of Crewe this season and last year they came here and played us off the park for long periods in the FA Cup, so we were mindful of that and fact they play a great brand of football, quite open and prepared to take risks.”