Coleman delight at Red's victory

ACCRINGTON STANLEY 2 SCARBOROUGH 1

Accrington Stanley boss John Coleman had labelled this clash against their fellow promotion chasers as a "must win game" - and his side didn't let him down.

The Reds started all guns blazing and should have had more than the one goal advantage they held at half time. That came in the 15th minute when a Peter Cavanagh cross was flicked on by Steve Jagielka and Rory Prendergast fired home his fourth goal of the season.

Top scorer Paul Mullin saw an overhead kick go wide, captain Cavanagh raced half the length of the pitch before his shot was narrowly off-target, keeper Leigh Walker denied Prendergast and a Robbie Williams header was blocked on the line.

Scarborough only really came into the game at the end of the first half when veteran striker David Reeves was one-on-one with Paul Crichton but fired straight at the Stanley shot-stopper.

Nick Henry gave his side a firm team-talk and they came out the stronger after the break with Chris Senior testing Crichton. But, on their first real attack of the half, Prendergast beat the off-side trap, Lee McEvilly flicked the ball on and Mullin bundled the ball over the line for his 12th goal of the season on 63 minutes.

They should have had more but instead had to suffer a nervy finale when Crichton spilled a Neil Redfearn free kick and Tony Hackworth pounced on the mistake seven minutes from time.

And Tyrone Thompson could have celebrated an undeserved equaliser with a firm last minute shot but the Stanley keeper denied him.

"We don't make things easy for ourselves," said manager John Coleman. "But the main thing is that we won and that will propel us up the table. Rory was more positive and was a handful while Lee Mac was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet.

"And I was pleased Mullers got on the scoresheet as he hasn't scored for a while and I always like my strikers to score as it breeds confidence. Credit to Scarborough, they came back at us and never gave up but we have a habit of making things difficult."

The Reds are in action on Tuesday night in the Northern Quarter-final of the Conference Cup against bogey team Tamworth.

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