Lady luck back on side for Reds
ACCRINGTON Stanley manager John Coleman felt his side finally got a rub of the green after their impressive 2-0 victory over Ipswich Town.
Two goals from Colby Bishop earned Stanley the victory at the Wham Stadium, and Coleman felt the win came despite his side not performing any different to how they have done for large portions of the season.
“I’m delighted with the result, there’s no real difference in the performance levels, it’s just we got a little bit of the rub of the green at crucial times, like when we kept one off the line, we got a penalty and we’ve had plenty of penalties like that, that we haven’t been given,” he told the club’s official website. “I don’t think anyone could argue about the win, I think we were the better team, we were on the front foot and we looked like we had more energy.
“You’ve got to bear in mind that Ipswich are a top side and they’ll go up deservedly, but they had three of their key players out today and I know myself as a manager that it’s a body blow when you lose three of your key players.
“They haven’t played for two weeks as well so that meant that they were a little rusty so they’ve got a couple of excuses that are valid in my opinion and that doesn’t detract from the fact that we’ve played really well today but we had to against a very good side.
“Ross Sykes and one of their lads got send off, but I think he doesn’t have to send either player off, the penalty is a penalty, if someone’s jumping for a ball and somebody jumps into the back of them, it’s a penalty.
“What they’re hoping for is leniency and there’s too much leniency in football, if it’s a foul outside the box then it’s a foul inside the box in my opinion and that goes both ways, so I don’t think there can be any complaints about that.
“We’re disappointed that it’s been 10 versus 10, we’ve got Jerome Opoku booked which means he missed out on Wednesday, it makes us a bit thin on the ground for defenders .
“Ross Sykes has to learn, we’ve told him time and time again, let the referee make the decisions, if he feels as though he’s been aggrieved, then let the referee decide that and I have to say he was fantastic in the game before that, he put in near enough a faultless display.”
Stanley were set to take on Peterborough as the Observer went to print on Wednesday, and then go up against Gillingham at home on Saturday.