Leek Town 0 Accrington Stanley 2

STANLEY celebrated their return to the UniBond Premier Division with a convincing victory at Leek thanks to two first half goals by Liam Watson.

After a quiet opening 20 minutes, Reds' Mark Ceraolo sent clear Mark Shirley, who was one-on-one with Leek goalkeeper Mark Statham but the winger could only chip the ball into Statham's hands.

Accrington took the lead on 33 minutes when Craig Lovatt was adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area. Watson stepped up and made no mistake from the spot-kick sending Statham the wrong way.

The Reds' second goal came a minute before the break and was a well worked move, Ceraolo set up Steve Carragher who beat Statham and laid across the ball into the penalty area for Watson to score from close range.

Leek rarely troubled the Stanley goal as central defender Wayne Maddock, signed from Bamber Bridge on Friday, had an impressive debut.

And five minutes after the break Stanley goalkeeper Jamie Speare started an attack with a quick throw to Carragher, who launched a perfect pass to Watson, who got the byline and crossed for Shirley but his header was deflected for a corner. Speare was again called into action on 68 minutes when Lovatt saw his shot parried by Stanley's keeper who then blocked Lovatt's follow-up shot with his legs.

Four minutes later Accrington almost added a third goal when Brett Baxter sent over a cross to Jonathan Smith but his header came back off the crossbar. And, a minute from time, player/manager John Coleman introduced himselfand he immediately struck a 25-yard free kick just inches over the crossbar.

Stanley will be hoping for another three points tomorrow night when they entertain Altrincham at the Crown Ground with a 7.45pm kick-off.