ACCRINGTON Stanley manager John Coleman has ruled out a late title charge despite three wins and one defeat from the last four games.
Stanley may have turned a corner after a run of bad results but the improvement hasn't come quick enough to give the Crown Ground side a chance of catching runaway leaders Emley.
There are 42 points still to play for but Stanley are trailing Emley by 23 points.
"Wherever we finish this season I will be disappointed because I wanted to win the league," said Coleman. "But a good run-in will give us confidence and a good platform from which to build for next season."
Stanley started the season well but fell away over the winter months and have been unable to put any kind of run together since October last year. Until now.
Coleman puts the turnaround down to improved performances in defence.
"The lads have been taking the mickey, calling Jimmy Bell the defensive coach, but he has been working with them and it seems to have paid dividends.
"We have just been trying to get them to play the way we feel is appropriate for this league.
"The back four of Steve Carragher, Jay Flannery, Robbie Williams and Steve Hollis over the last few games have played much better.
"And we always know we can create things going forward so we knew if we were tight at the back we would start seeing results. We are glad for the fans as much as ourselves because they have really stuck with us even when we were going through a really bad spell. I think they could see that we weren't playing that badly, we just weren't getting the results. Coleman has changed to a more direct style of play over the last few weeks but doesn't feel this has contributed to the wins.
"It is purely and simply down to better defensive play," he said.
Stanley travel to Gainsborough Trinity in the UniBond Premier tomorrow, hoping for a fourth win in five games. "We'll go there pretty confident but they have picked up a few points over the last six or seven weeks but they'll be doing their best to beat us."
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