JONATHAN Smith is determined to fight for his place at Accrington Stanley.

The defender, a virtual ever-present last time out, has been a shock omission from this season's line-up.

Stanley have chalked up two wins in their opening two fixtures without him as new signing Mark Sertori and Steve Halford have been strong in the backline.

But Smith will not get down about it - and will try and seize his chance when it comes.

"It is a big challenge now, we have got competition for places in every position and there is no room for complacency," admitted Smith.

"Carlo (Mark SeRtori) is a fantastic player, he has played plenty of league games and I can learn a lot from him. He might be 36 but he is brilliant.

"There are 60-odd games this season and hopefully I will be involved in some of these.

"We have a huge squad - there is hardly room for us all on the team bus - and every player knows that if he misses a game, he could be out of the team for months.

"I guess I have been the unlucky one this season but these things happen.

"It was a shock but saying that I could tell the way it was going pre season.

"Now I have got to wait for my chance. There is no better place to be in non-League football than here, especially if we win the title."

Stanley boss John Coleman has admitted he faces a tough task to keep all his players happy as they mount their title challenge.

As well as Smith, the likes of Steve Flitcroft, Dave Robinson, Mark Brennan and Lee Buggie have also had a spell on the sidelines.

"We have to have a big squad and I have just had to ask the lads not included to be patient," said Coleman, whose side are joint top with Harrogate Town after the opening matches and make the trip to Marine tomorrow.

"I know from my time as a player that everyone wants to play and I know everyone who comes in can do a job.

"Everyone wants to be part of a successful team and they will get their chance but I guess only time will tell if we can keep everyone happy."

The opening day 2-1 victory over Runcorn was followed by a 2-1 win over Colwyn Bay and the latter game told Coleman a lot about how other teams are going to approach their games against Stanley.

"They were hyped up to play us, they played the game at a high tempo and I didn't expect that," admitted the Reds chief.

"I chose a team who I thought would do well on the day but if I had known how they had decided to played - that they were going to come at us - then I would have started with a different team.

"But we did well in the last 20 minutes, we played with a determined attitude and though it was a nervy end with 10 minutes of injury time we held on."

Coleman couldn't put his finger on why the Bay had suddenly changed the way they played but he expects most teams to have a go against Stanley this season.

"I think other sides see that we have added to the squad over the summer and that we will be one of the favourites.

"They are hyped up to play us as they see us as a scalp, they want to beat us.

"We will just have to expect that.

"I will change the team around for different games depending on the surface or what will be most effective for us on the day."

And any thoughts of promotion at this early stage?

"I told the lads that if they win their next 40-odd games then we'll win the league. No problem!"

TWELVE UniBond teams have lodged applications for promotion to the Conference including Stanley.

The others are: Altrincham, Barrow, Gainsborough Trinity, Harrogate Town, Hyde United, Lancaster City, Runcorn FC Halton, Stalybridge Celtic, Vauxhall Motors, Wakefield and Emley FC, Worksop Town.