Accrington Stanley manager John Coleman is looking forward to being the underdog again when his side travel to Birmingham to face Coventry City this weekend.
In their last outing, the Reds secured top spot in Group B of the Leasing.com Trophy with a 5-2 victory over an inexperienced Liverpool Under-21s side.
“You can’t govern what gets put in front of you, it was a very inexperienced side but you’ve got to take that.
“We can only play what we’ve got to play, and we hit the net five times which helps with confidence."
That win came at a much needed time with Stanley having not scored in their last two games, despite creating a high number of chances.
“The performances have been good, we’ve not put the ball in the net when we’ve been dominant.
“When we’ve needed a goal to change a game, we’ve not come up with the goods.
“It’s heartbreaking as a manager when the ratio of chances we take is very low.
“We don’t give up many chances in games, but we get punished.”
In each of the last three games, the Reds have had goals controversially disallowed but Coleman knows that his side can't use that as an excuse.
“We’ve had three consecutive goals disallowed, that were goals.
“If you hide behind that, you’ll eventually go backwards and got to take it as it is.
“We’ve got a great set of players that want to learn and get better for themselves.
“It’s a refreshing place to come to work.”
Derby rivals and good friends Jim Bentley and Kenny McKenna left Morecambe earlier this week to take over at AFC Fylde, and Coleman expects there to be no managers and just head coaches in the game in 10 years time.
“There won’t be any managers in 10 years time, it will all be done at boardroom level.
“People who are managers now will have to get their hands dirty on the pitch.
“There’s no personal attachment (as a head coach), I’ve never considered myself as an employee of Accrington, it’s more of a vocation.
“You’re trying to run a family, and there’s an element of love and care about it.
“If you treat football as a job then you shouldn’t be in it.
“Too many treat it like a job, and if you treat it like a job then you don’t care enough.”
Stanley travel to the St Andrew's Trillion Trophy Stadium this weekend to face Coventry City and Coleman knows that it will be a tough game that is played inside an impressive stadium.
“They are playing well, Mark Robins has always got good players and got them well organised.
“We generally operate well in big stadiums, I’m looking forward to the game and it’s another ground chalked off for me.”
Ahead of the game, Coleman also stated who were the main injury concerns going into this weekend's fixture.
“Zaine Francis-Angol's out and Sadou Diallo, we’ll find out if he’s going to be fit for this week.
“We’re waiting for the all clear for Joe Maguire.”