John Coleman praises Accrington’s defensive display in victory at Lincoln

Posted Sunday, November 28, 2021 by PA

John Coleman hailed his side’s defensive display after Accrington left Lincoln with all three points from a 1-0 win.

Colby Bishop’s close-range effort 10 minutes into the second half proved the difference between the two sides in what was a dire affair.

The biggest plus for Coleman proved to be the clean sheet – after Stanley had conceded a staggering 20 goals in their previous five games.

“When you’ve conceded as many as we have the clean sheet is the holy grail,” he enthused.

“Teams were scoring an average of four a game against us before today, so it’s massive for us. Of course you need a little a bit of luck along the way, but the harder you work the more luck you get and we deserved it today.

“Everybody played well in what were very difficult conditions and we actually did better against the wind.”

The game was delayed by 15 minutes due to poor conditions on the M62 that held up visiting supporters, who were still entering the ground a further 20 minutes after kick-off.

And Coleman was quick to praise them afterwards.

“Our fans deserve a lot of credit for the way they galvanised our team after the journey they’ve had,” he said.

“I apologised to them after our performance in midweek, but I hope we’ve paid them back now.”

The best action of a truly dismal first half came after just four minutes when Stanley’s Ethan Hamilton curled wide following Sean McConville’s corner.

At the other end the isolated 17-year old striker Freddie Draper blazed over, before Chris Maguire’s tame effort proved the first shot on target after 31 minutes.

Two minutes after the break a mistake by visiting goalkeeper Toby Savin gifted Lewis Fiorini the ball in the penalty area, but he could only roll the ball across the face of goal with no Lincoln team-mate on hand to apply the finish.

The deadlock was broken in the 55th minute, however, when Hamilton’s shot from distance was palmed away by Josh Griffiths, but Bishop reacted quickest to tap Stanley ahead.

The Imps improved slightly in the closing stages and twice went close through Draper, who headed two Maguire crosses narrowly over.

Lincoln boss Michael Appleton was left frustrated.

“The reality is we came up short, despite what any stats might say,” he said.

“Accrington seemed to set up happy to take a point, so the goal was a real bonus for them.

“It then seemed to take our younger players too long to get over the disappointment of going behind to that goal.

“We looked a little bit more threatening when we played with two strikers, but it wasn’t to be and there’s a few of them suffering in the dressing room right now.”