MANAGER John Coleman revealed the secret to Stanley's penalty success.

The gaffer was one of the few people in the Crown Ground who felt confident as Stanley stepped up to take their spot-kicks in their bid to clinch the UniBond League Challenge Cup.

They had lost out to Altrincham on penalties in the FA Umbro Trophy earlier this season and there was a fear, with the match poised at 1-1, that the Reds could miss out again.

But the Reds boss admitted: "Penalties are in the lap of the Gods but I felt okay.

"We had had a penalty competition in training a couple of weeks ago and they were putting them in for fun so I knew the lads could score them, it was just whether they could cope with the pressure.

"But some of the lads are young, cocky and confident.

"Flitty and Andy Proctor took their penalties so well but so did the rest of them. There was some excellent penalties on show.

"It is difficult to lose like that and it is hard on Bradford. It is unfortunate but I am glad it went our way!"

He admitted that it was difficult to single out one of his players for praise but he was delighted for Gary Williams.

The striker has had a turbulent season at the Crown Ground, handing in a transfer request earlier on, then withdrawing it and then going on loan to Rossendale to get some match practice.

But it has worked out for the youngster who gave Stanley something extra when he came on as a substitute on the right wing after the break.

"If you look at Gary's work-rate, he did so well," admitted Coleman. "I am so pleased with him. We gave him a job to do and he ran all over. He was like having an extra man."

With two cups in the bag, Stanley play their final UniBond Premier game at home to Marine on Friday night but now all eyes are on next season.

And Coleman has set his sights on winning the league and getting into the Conference to make his next dream come true.

"We aim to do as well as we can in the cups but the league is always the priority and always will be.

"We haven't done that well in the league this season and we want to put that right. We have showed we can cope with pressure and now we have to take that into next season.

"Every game will be a cup final and we will have to treat it like that if we want to go up."