FRUSTRATED Accrington Stanley manager John Coleman says it's time to put poorer sides to the sword.

The Reds go into tonight's GLS Conference Cup (North) semi-final against Northwich Victoria on the back of Saturday's disappointing draw at home to second bottom Forest Green Rovers.

It was a game they were expected to win. But, like on so many occasions this season, they failed to find the extra ammunition to kill off a side struggling at the bottom of the Nationwide Conference.

And Coleman says they cannot afford to let that happen again if they have any hope of making the play-offs this season, or even earn their place in a final for the second time in a week.

"We have to dispatch of teams like that if we're going to be serious play-off contenders and we haven't done," he fumed.

"Again it comes down to us finding great difficulty getting results against the lower teams. If you look at the bottom 10 we've lost to six of them.

"A point was better than nothing on Saturday, but at this stage of the season three points are paramount and we didn't get them having got ourselves into a wonderful position by going 1-0 up."

Instead of three points, it will be a place in the Conference Cup final (North) that is up for grabs against the improving Vics tomorrow.

But Coleman believes it is just as crucial to get a good result away from the league to spur them on for a crucial run-in period.

Northwich will no doubt be smarting from their first league defeat of the season, after they went down 3-1 at home to Woking on Saturday, while Stanley will still be feeling the full force of their manager's fury.

"At this moment in time we haven't performed well enough at home," Coleman said.

"Northwich are on a good run. But it's immaterial what other teams bring to us, it's how we perform on the day. If you show the right attitude should that be good enough to win?

"I don't think they go out consciously to not concentrate, but somewhere along the line it creeps in, and it's our job to make sure that's not on a regular basis, and if that means bringing in new players then so be it."

But Coleman stressed he would not be rushed into "panic buys".

"I've never been one to make panic buys, and that won't be the case now," he said.

"No disrespect to Forest Green, but they shouldn't be getting anywhere near us at our place, and we've only taken one point off them now in two games."

That's why the Stanley boss will accept nothing less than a win tonight, even if it means an extra burden on top of the pressures of their league campaign.

"Every game we play we want to win, and tonight is now our most important game. That's the way I was as a player and I'll be the same as a manager," he said.

Matthew O'Neill will be hoping to follow his debut up with an appearance tonight, but that will depend on whether he has shaken off a hamstring problem in time.

"It was a difficult game for him to come in to on Saturday," Coleman said. "He hasn't played for quite a few weeks, and the pace of the game is hard. But he showed one or two class touches and I'm sure he'll get better.

"We didn't want to over-exert him. He's not played for a while, and he has had a bit of a hamstring problem, and that's when you can pull things."