Accrington Stanley 3 BURSCOUGH 0

LUTEL James scored two late goals to give Accrington Stanley their first UniBond Premier Division victory of the season.

The former Bury frontman, signed in the summer, opened his account for the Reds with goals in 85th and 89th minutes after Gary Williams had scored his second of the campaign three minutes after the interval.

It was a huge relief to Stanley boss John Coleman who had watched his side slump to two losses and they desperately needed to get off the mark against an unbeaten Burscough to kick start their charge for a Nationwide Conference place.

"Hopefully that will have settled a few nerves," said the boss who was taking his side to Marine this afternoon. "I hope it has eased some of the pressure.

"We played well in the first half without getting our rewards. We made a couple of chances, they didn't go in and then we started getting anxious and let them back into it. But once we'd scored and they got a man sent off, there was only one winner.

"It was good for Lutel to get off the mark and Gary (Williams) is looking a lot sharper than he did last season. Now we have to hope we can carry on the run."

Coleman started with the strike pair of Paul Mullin and Williams with James just sitting behind the front two.

It worked in the early stages with some through balls cutting open the Burscough defence but Stanley were unable to finish. Brett Baxter fired wide after Mullin had set him up and Simon Carden's through ball beat the off-side trap on 12 minutes leaving Williams one on one with the keeper but Matt Taylor was able to block his low shot. Baxter should have done better with another effort on the half hour but his strike from six yards out was deflected wide -- and it seemed that it could be another frustrating afternoon for the Reds.

But they finally made one count in the 48th minute when James's through ball split the defence and Williams slotted into the far corner of the net -- to the relief of the majority of the 410 crowd.

Burscough then had a spell where they could have come back into it. They threw on former Nelson player Carl Howarth, who joined the Liverpool side from Victoria Park in the summer after banging in goals for Nelson last season, and they looked lively.

But Stanley's defence, who had conceded eight goals in their opening two games, stood firm.

The game changed on 74 minutes when Burscough skipper Ged Nolan appeared to elbow sub Mark Ceraolo. He was given his marching orders and there was only one winner after that.

On 85 minutes, James got the ball on the edge of the area from Russell Payne and turned and fired a shot past the keeper. Then another ball broke through a tired Burscough defence and James took it round the keeper and stroked the ball into the empty net to make it three.