John Coleman knows Accrington Stanley need to start another ‘mini-run’, starting with Saturday’s win over Grimsby Town, if they are to challenge for the play-offs.
Coleman admits it has been a stop-start season for the team, apart from October, when Stanley won four games on the bounce and moved up to sixth place in League Two.
They are now over the 40-point mark, Coleman’s first target, and Coleman is hoping to reach 50 points as soon as possible to secure Stanley’s EFL future next season.
The next step is to put together another winning group so the Reds can challenge for the top seven.
Following last weekend’s win over Forest Green, Coleman’s side will move towards a play-off spot if they pick up three more points against the Mariners.
“The sooner we reach 50 points, the more we can look towards the playoffs, but the longer it takes, the more distant the playoffs become,” the Reds manager said.
“I want to go into April with a month of important games. That’s five or six games that really make you sick to your stomach and make you sit on the edge of your seat and make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up during the games.” Because scoring now means even more.
“I know I’ll only get the same points in September as I did in April, but the points feel more special when you’re moving toward something.
“We want that feeling and we don’t want the stomach-churning of a relegation battle like we had last season and a free-for-all towards the end of the season with nothing to do as part of the apathy.” I don’t want to live in mediocrity either.” That’s probably the worst of the lot.
“So we have to fight to win something and to do that we have to check to avoid relegation before we do anything.”
Dave Artel took over as manager of the Mariners in November, and the Mariners currently sit in 20th place in League Two with one win in their last seven games.
The defensive line includes two former Reds, Harvey Rodgers and Doug Sahm.
Coleman continued: “I was at Dave Ertell’s course on Tuesday. We’re pretty open book on how we do things, but what everyone knows is League Two is a tough league.” .
“I’ve talked about this a lot, but any team that goes into a mini-run has to try to get into a mini-run. You need a second win, a third win, and then you feel like you’re running away a little bit. It will be.”
“Grimsby achieved that when Dave first came, but there may be some hiccups along the way.
“We had a little bit of a big stop and start with injuries and postponements and Saturday was probably our worst game in weeks, but we won.
“I feel like I’ve made steady progress in my play over the last few weeks.”
Jay Rich Buglou played against Forest Green as he continues his return from injury, and Coleman confirmed Tommy Lee could return to the pitch this weekend.