COLEMAN’S BACK WITH A BIG BANG
JOHN Coleman might have felt like he had never been away from Accrington – and the impact he made on his return cannot be overstated.
On Friday, hours after rejoining Stanley for his second spell, he recruited loanees Sean Maguire from West Ham and John O’Sullivan from Blackburn Rovers and both scored in this sizzling win at Northampton 24 hours later.
Accrington were long shots to pick up three points at Sixfields, where the Cobblers put five past Hartlepool on Tuesday night as they were put to the sword in grand style.
But the tables were turned this weekend, with Coleman’s side scoring five times themselves to secure a dramatic victory and three points that will encourage Accrington, who parted company with James Beattie a fortnight ago, that better times than their recent relegation concerns may lie ahead.
“It felt like I’d never been away,” said Coleman. “I have to say it is tinged with a little disappointment because of the way we finished the game but the lads were fantastic out there.
“We want them to play a certain way, we went into this game with a very specific game plan and the players bought into it.
“Sometimes you’ll come unstuck playing that way and we know we’re not going to be able to score five goals away from home every week.
“The players really put a shift in and when you get something through hard work rather than from someone giving it to you, it tastes all the more sweeter.”
O’Sullivan was the star of the show with two goals, Rob Atkinson scored another and had a hand in a second, and Maguire capped a good debut with a late goal which turned out to be the winner.
After making such a fine start to his second spell, Coleman, who took Accrington into the Football League, will now attempt to raise the profile of a club that is often maligned.
“Forget about me, this was about the players, they worked hard and they deserved the win,” he said.
“But I’m fed up with this club being ‘little old Accrington’ because we’re a Football League club on merit.”
The Cobblers slipped to ninth in the League Two table as a result of the defeat, with manager Chris Wilder still searching for the consistency he knows his team must have if they are to challenge for promotion this season.
“We'll have to look how we set the team up because we can’t concede five goals at home, especially from setpieces.You cannot concede five goals and expect to get anything.
“You have to look at games individually, we scored five on Tuesday but that’s history, and we’ve conceded five here so that’s what I need to address. “To score five is great, but we were unable to kick on from that which is disappointing, and the manner of the goals we conceded was even more disappointing.”