John Coleman wants his players to show what they are capable of as they take on promotion-chasing Peterborough United at the Wham Stadium tomorrow night.
The Reds boss was hurting after Saturday’s 5-2 loss to Fleetwood which dropped Stanley to 23rd place in the League One table.
But a win tomorrow night, and other results going their way, could see the Reds climb out of the bottom four and that’s now the main focus.
“We have to put Saturday to the back of our mind, if you dwell on it you will be in trouble,” said Coleman.
“We can’t do anything about it, we can do something about Tuesday and that’s all we can focus all our efforts and energy on.
“We can’t wallow in self pity, we have to stick our chests out.
“We let the fans down on Saturday, we didn’t start the game anywhere near like we should. We were disjointed, we didn’t take them game to them, they took it to us.
“We were very poor, we were defensively all over the place and our fans deserve better than that. They deserve us to be solid and fighting for our lives and we didn’t give the impression we were fighting for our lives. That’s something that has to change tomorrow.”
Liam Coyle was sent off for the Reds in the loss to Fleetwood where, after Stanley were 3-0 down, the ten men did rally to 3-2 before late goals for the Cod Army.
“Going down to ten men has happened too often this season but we can’t have any complaints with the red card. Liam has to learn from that.
“However, there was a snapshot in the second half where we showed passion and fight and we have to take that into 90 minutes, keep 11 on the pitch, defend properly and hope that luck goes your way like it did against Port Vale.
“I take the ultimate responsibility, I am the one who picks the team, sets them up and signs them but I can’t play for them and that’s not throwing them under the bus.
“I know a lot of our players can perform better than they did. It’s sometimes the Holy Grail for a manager getting them to play well at the same time and not carrying anyone and unfortunately every week we seem to be carrying three or four players.”
Peterborough are in the final Play-Off place, having won six of their last ten games but they lost last time out to Cambridge United.
“Peterborough have a lot to play for but we like to think we have more to play for,” added Coleman.
“From us, it’s another game and a wonderful opportunity for us to do something and I think we are capable of doing something.
“We have to fight and fight and fight. We have to draw a line under Saturday and know we can’t ever go back to that level of performance and hopefully we will get the right response.”
Coyle is suspended for three games while Rosaire Longelo is a doubt with a tight hamstring.
The full pre-match interview with John Coleman is available to watch on the club's official YouTube channel, CLICK HERE to find out more!