Manager’s home truths to squad
JOHN Coleman delivered a few home truths to his Stanley squad following Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Rochdale.
The Reds dominated the first but were made to pay for not taking any of their chances when Ian Henderson’s 62nd minute header clinched the points for the home side.
Asked how his side could break out of their recent run of winless games, Coleman was crystal clear.
“You have to work hard – you don’t wait for it to break, you make it break,” he said. “And if the players don’t do something about it then I have to do something about it. That could mean bringing in players in January, but I am not putting up with losing games that we should be winning.
“We are getting ourselves into a rut and we have got to work our way out of it. The only way out is working hard.
“The players have been left in no uncertain terms that if I don’t get what I want they are in for a long, hard Christmas.
“Players need telling home truths now and again. I can’t play on the pitch, but the last half hour my character and attitude would have galvanised us. I was disappointed with our passion and our effort in the last 25 minutes.”
The Reds chief said his side deserved at least a point from the clash but left themselves open to the sucker punch by being so wasteful in front of goal.
“On the balance of the game I thought we should have won – the least we deserved was a draw. But you don’t always get what you deserve in football,” he said. “They’ve got a lad there who recently scored his one hundredth goal for Rochdale and you give him half a chance and he’ll take it.
“We had plenty of chances and didn’t take them and that was the difference in the game. I felt we forced the best chances but unfortunately we didn’t work their goalkeeper enough. Our keeper hasn’t had a save to make while their keeper made two in the first half and I can’t remember him making a save after that, so we have to be more ruthless in front of goal. If you are not you are always liable to fall for a sucker punch.
“I think the most ardent of Rochdale fans would admit they were fortunate to win it but that’s the way it is. It’s not Strictly Come Dancing, you don’t get points for artistic quality. The currency is goals.
“They’ve scored a good header which was disappointing for us because Rochdale are the team who have conceded most headers, they’ve conceded 12 this season and we fall for a header from one of the smallest men on the pitch. That’s frustrating for us.
“There was still 25 minutes to go to get one or two goals after they scored, maybe 28 minutes, so there was plenty of time. But we huffed and puffed in the end and they saw it out well, they defended well towards the end.”
Rochdale boss Keith Hill admitted Stanley deserved something from the game.
“It was a close game, it could have gone either way,” he said.
“Accrington are a good side and I love the way they play, the players they’ve got and the way they are building on the success they had last season.
“We’ve come out on top but it doesn’t mean we are the better side.”