Distraught Coleman shoulders the blame
ACCRINGTON boss John Coleman pointed the finger at himself after his team conceded a last-minute equaliser to ten-man Cheltenham.
Rob Dickie’s last-gasp goal cancelled out Terry Gornell’s 74th-minute header as the Robins picked up their seventh draw of the season.
Coleman said: “That’s the worst I’ve felt after a game and I need to look at myself.
“If things are going to change they need to change at the top, so I’ve got to do things differently. It can’t go on like this because I can’t keep carrying on watching that at home.
“The attitude has to change and we need to show more urgency, more will to win.
“That’s two points out of the last nine and the way we’ve played it should be nine, so we’ve got to look at ourselves because possibly we think we are better than we are.”
The visitors were immediately on the back foot, not helped by the loss after five minutes of debutant midfielder Alex Cooper.
But for all their possession and attractive passing, Stanley struggled to break down a stubborn Cheltenham marshalled well by skipper Aaron Downes, and Rommy Boco wasted the best chance of the first half when he placed his header straight at Russell Griffiths.
With both sides confident after midweek wins in the Checkatrade Trophy the game settled into a stalemate until the 66th minute when Daniel O’Shaughnessy tripped Gornell and received a second yellow card.
Minutes later Cheltenham had the ball in the net following a quick break, only for substitute Jonny Smith’s celebrations to be cut short when he was ruled offside, and things got worse for Cheltenham when Gornell met Boco’s centre with a fine glancing header.
An equaliser looked beyond Cheltenham but in the last minute of normal time a James Dayton corner caused panic in the Stanley area with Downes’ header bringing a brilliant save from Chapman only for Dickie to bundle in the ball at the far post.
Cheltenham manager Gary Johnson said: “We have got energy and spirit and a good squad but we do need to turn draws into wins.
“In the position we were in, down to ten men and trailing 1-0, it’s a good point but it will only be a good point if we win next week at home to Crawley.
“It was a resilient performance as we had to change our shape a few times with injuries and the sending off.
“But we needed a bit more quality in the final third.”