JOHN Coleman warned his Accrington Stanley players that they must keep their concentration in games despite Saturday’s 4-2 win over Torquay United.

Stanley put themselves into the driving seat when they went 4-1 up but had to endure a nervy final 10 minutes as the Gulls pulled a goal back and pressed for another.

“It’s a good job I am on beta blockers to calm myself down,” said Coleman.

“We got ourselves into a magnificent position at 4-1 then for some reason we stopped playing and it could have been really nervy if they had got the score back to 4-3.

“I am delighted with the win but I think we could have played it out better at the end.

“We want to get the passing and concentration right and for long periods we did that well.

“I was disappointed with the way we turned off in the last 10 minutes and another day we could have been punished.

“We can’t do that and we have to learn to see the game out.”

Stanley fell behind to an early penalty before Phil Edwards levelled, also from the spot.

And Coleman was pleased with the response.

“It was a bad start for us when they got the penalty.

“I am not sure about that one but Jimmy (Bell) thought it was a penalty and said that to me straight away.

“Then we got back into it. As soon as the ball went into the box, their lad tugged at Michael Symes.

“I shouted for the penalty but maybe I only see them with one eye.”

Stanley then went in front before the break thanks to Andy Procter’s header and Coleman added: “I thought we were quite good going forward.

“We were lively until the last 10 minutes. It’s good for us to come from a goal down. It shows there is a fighting spirit.”

Coleman was forced to make changes to his team with Tom Lees injured and he also dropped Darran Kempson to the bench.

“We had to look at the situation where both Dean Winnard and Kempson were on four bookings and Tom Lees is hurt.

“If I had played Kempo and Dean and they had been booked it would have left us with two defenders for Tuesday night in the FA Cup replay at Barnet.

“But it’s not much of a gamble bringing Johnny Flynn in and he had a good debut.”.

Meanwhile, Torquay manager Paul Buckle believed his side got exactly what they deserved from the game. He was left seething by the lacklustre display and ripped into his men ahead of their long journey home..

“It was a fair result, you could see the state of the pitch, you could see how heavy it was and I felt Accrington played the conditions a lot better than us and credit to them.

“They deserved their three points, we didn’t deserve anything – I’m very honest with the players and I’m honest with myself.

“We didn’t do the basics right, we weren’t nasty enough, we weren’t horrible enough on what was a nasty pitch on a horrible day.

“I have told my players how I feel and they will have a long time to reflect on what’s been said on the coach journey home.”