One of my biggest wins – John Coleman hails Accrington’s victory over Cambridge

Posted Sunday, November 20, 2022 by PA

John Coleman hailed Accrington’s 1-0 victory at Cambridge as one of the best results of his managerial career.

Harvey Rodgers scored the decisive goal at the end of the first half as Coleman’s side picked up their first victory in eight league matches.

Cambridge, though, have gone six home games without scoring in League One, during which time they have also needed penalties to get past non-league Curzon Ashton following a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup.

“This might sound like going over the top, but I’d say that’s one of the biggest wins that myself, Jimmy (Bell) and John Doolan have had. And I know we’ve had big wins in the past,” said Coleman.

“When you needed one, and when you go and dig to the very depths, when you’re losing players every single week through injury, that is one of the biggest wins to come here and win it. And I thought we were value for the win.

“The lads who we put out, I couldn’t fault any of them. When you work really hard for something and you get it, it’s far more satisfying than if you get a lucky break. They earned every ounce of those three points today and I’m proud of them.

“The lads worked very, very hard. That’s something that we’ve tried to set the bar. They’ve driven themselves into the ground. Whatever the result was today you couldn’t have complained about our players.

“I think we turned a corner after the Fleetwood game (a 3-0 defeat at the end of October). We’ve got to try and carry this on now for the rest of the season and try and get ourselves away from the bottom four.”

Cambridge boss Mark Bonner admitted his side were struggling to create opportunities as their scoreless run at the Abbey Stadium continued.

“It wasn’t very good,” Bonner said. “The game wasn’t a good game. I thought it was a really poor level, probably signified by the goal we concede which makes the second half a lot more difficult.

“The game always had the potential to be scruffy, where both teams are at the moment.

“We had to come out on top of the scruffy nature of the game and try to bring some control, but we didn’t do that in the first half, and we don’t defend the ball into our box from the long throw.

“We came out with a little bit more thrust about us early on, but we weren’t able to sustain any pressure or change the momentum enough. We weren’t creative enough and obviously we’re massively struggling in that area at the moment in terms of our quality with the ball to build our way up the pitch and create chances.”