John Coleman has the boost of striker Colby Bishop back for Saturday’s trip to Lincoln City.
Bishop has been banned for the last three games for a controversial sending off against Port Vale but returns to the fold as the Reds look to halt a run of three League One losses on the bounce.
The Imps sit just above 17th place Stanley in the table – they lost to Portsmouth on Tuesday but have enjoyed wins over promotion-chasing Wigan recently.
“It’s a boost having Colby back as I feel wronged by it,” said the Reds boss. “We have lost the three games Colby hasn’t played in and he should have been in all three.
“It was down to an error by a linesman which has been validated by every referee I have spoke to, Premier League referees and the Head of the Referees.
“He is now back and I want Colby to play the way he has played most of the season, very effectively, leading the line.
“He is a good footballer, works hard, he ticks every box you want as a manager. He could possibly score more goals but you can’t have everything. If he did, he would be in the Premier League probably.”
Coleman has been through bad runs before with the Reds and knows they need to turn it around quickly.
“We have got to change our mindset a little bit, be more upbeat and believe in ourselves a little bit more.
“The staff can help with this – we can be positive in training, we can enjoy our work.
“I said to the players after Tuesday and again yesterday, I wasn’t blessed to be a professional footballer so I have made the most of this.
“It’s a job I love and I know they love it so we shouldn’t be blasé about being given the opportunity to do a job that gives us so much pleasure.
“The reason we do that job is that we are good at it and you have to be reminded of it every now and then.”
Stanley have conceded the most goals in League One but Coleman will not go to LNER Stadium and shut up shop even though he knows they need a result.
“I will never set up to get a 0-0, it’s not in my make-up. My philosophy is we play as well as we can, work as hard as we can and try and score as many goals as we can and that will be the case when we play Lincoln on Saturday.
“You can’t get too het up as you have good runs and bad runs. You have got to focus on working hard, trying to win games.
“You are going to have disgruntled supporters, fans are going to be disenchanted because they get to a place where playing Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland and Ipswich is the norm now. They could only be thought of as pipe dreams years ago. It’s the norm for me now too.
“I know we have got to improve and we have got to compete better in this league. It’s a tough league, it’s unforgiving and we have to find a way to win as many games as we can between now and the end of the season.
“We have got good players who have had some terrific results this season and there is no reason why we can’t get back to that level of performance. If the level of performance improves, your results generally go hand in hand.
“I was very disappointed with the performance on Tuesday, it’s one of the lowest ebbs of my career. That’s when I get worried when I am disappointed with the way we are playing.
“We haven’t played as bad as that in any game this season for as long a period.
“We have had times when this season we have played badly but we also played well in those games. I couldn’t see any hint of us playing well on Tuesday and that’s got to change.”
He knows Lincoln will provide a stuff test as they look to bounce back following a 3-0 loss to Portsmouth on Tuesday.
“Michael Appleton has a good team, they play good football, they were exceptional against Wigan and, like a lot teams, they will feel they should be higher up the table, but it’s on the day, how you perform and you can snowball from there.”
Striker Joe Hardy is in training full-time now while Matt Butcher and Joe Pritchard are still out injured.
The full pre-match interview video with John Coleman is available to watch on the club's official YouTube channel, CLICK HERE to find out more!