Dion double
corner was played with a couple of neat one-two passes between Scully and Jorge Grant who crossed in towards the back post, where the ball was nodded past Nathan Baxter by Tom Hopper.
The hosts wanted another and almost ended the contest, but Baxter had no intention of letting in a third and saved well from a Rogers effort.
Stanley still battled away in the dying minutes, and as the match approached injury time, they struck again to level the scores.
David Morgan, making his debut for Stanley, had come on to replace Adam Phillips in midfield, and did well to recycle the ball from a blocked Smyth cross.
He found Seamus Coneelly just in front of the halfway line who passed to Butcher to the right of the box. Butcher nipped it back to Morgan, who was being closed down quickly by the defenders.
Morgan slotted an inch perfect pass in between two defenders and into the feet of Charles who’s first touch popped the ball into the air, but he volleyed across Palmer with his second to grab his 13th league goal of the campaign.
Stanley had battled well against a side who will surely be playing Championship football next year, but many felt if decision making in the final third had been slightly better, they could have taken all three points.
None more so than Coleman: “It feels like two points dropped from our point of view. We did more than enough to win the game and we’ve conceded two poor goals. To concede two headers with the height we have in the team is disappointing.
“It’s no good playing well and not winning, the game is about winning. It might be too late in terms of getting promoted if we wait around and don’t cash in on our dominance in games, hopefully that will start on Wednesday.”
The point means that Stanley were sitting ninth in League One with games in hand on some of the sides around them ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Doncaster. Coleman will be hoping those games in hand translate into points on the board after what he felt was a frustrating night in Lincolnshire.
The result meant that Stanley had only won one of their last five matches before travelling to Doncaster Rovers on Wednesday. Rovers sat fifth in the table, six points better off than the Reds but Stanley will be buoyed by recent trips to The Keepmoat Stadium, having never lost a match on their travels there in the past.
JOHN Coleman has warned his Accrington Stanley squad not to leave it too late to mount a push for promotion.
Coleman believed it was a measure of Stanley’s progress that they were disappointed to leave Sincil Bank on Sunday with just a point.
The Reds drew 2-2 against the League One leaders, with Dion Charles netting a brace at either end of the game.
In between his goals, the Red Imps scored a couple themselves with Coleman disappointed with the manner in which they were conceded.
And as well as Stanley played, it left them with just two points from their last three games and saw them travel to Doncaster Rovers on Wednesday evening as the Observer went to press in ninth place, two points off the play-off places.
“It shows you how far we’ve come when we come to the league leaders, who have set the benchmark, and we’re disappointed at not winning,” said Coleman.
“They are a good side and they will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. We believe we can go anywhere and win and we believe we can beat anybody.
“Our performances over the last three or four weeks have merited that, but unfortunately we’ve only taken two points out of the last three games.
“It could easily have been nine points and that would have put us in a healthy position.
“You can’t look back, you’ve got to look forwards, but we have to be mindful of the fact
“I praised the lads to the hilt when we lost against Plymouth – but it’s no good playing well and not winning.
“The game is about winning, and as much as I am a student of form and I know that when you play well the results go in your favour, it might be too late if we wait around and we don’t cash in on our dominance in games.
“That was the case against Lincoln and it’s something we have got to put right.”
Coleman was disappointed with the defending at Lincoln and felt his players should have dealt with both goals better.
“It was two points dropped, no doubt about it, we did more than enough to win the game,” he said.
“But we conceded two poor goals. Lincoln are a top side and you are not going to keep them quiet all night – we did for most of the night, they have exciting forwards who barely got into the game.
“But to concede two headers with the height and strength we’ve got in the back four, and the way they came about – sloppy defending from us, we gave the ball away cheaply.
“For the first one we didn’t defend from a throw-in and we certainly shouldn’t be conceding a header like that.
“You’ve got to give our lads a lot of credit because they came back and got a point, which was the least we deserved in my opinion.
“The shape of the team was magnificent, the way they stuck to the letter of the law. What we’d practiced in training nullified Lincoln to little or nothing in the first half.
“We were keeping them at arm’s length for most of the night.”
Two more goals for frontman Charles added to his burgeoning reputation in the game, and Coleman praised the former Southport man for his willingness to listen and learn.
“Dion can be whatever he wants, he’s a great lad and he listens, which helps!” said Coleman. “I think it helps having Morgs (David Morgan) because he has a good understanding with him when he plays and that will give us another dimension as well. Dion is trying to improve his game and that’s what you want out of players, particularly forwards. We did a bit of finishing work with the forwards and it was nice that they took it on board.”
The weekend’s game at Lincoln was initially postponed amid Saturday’s freezing conditions and was played at 6pm on Sunday evening, with the trip to Doncaster pushed back 24 hours from Tuesday to Wednesday evening.
“Covid has made this season really said Coleman.
“The games come thick and fast and we just have to deal with them. I just hope we start turning our superiority in games into wins.”
Meanwhile, Stanley and Northampton Town have both been charged with a breach of FA Rule E20 following the Sky Bet League One fixture on Saturday 6th February 2021.
It is alleged that both clubs failed to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion during the 85th minute of the fixture and they have until Friday 12th February 2021 to provide their respective responses. strange,”