Accrington Stanley 4 Belper Town 1

ACCRINGTON Stanley are 90 minutes away from lifting the Unibond First Division title after blitzing Belper in front of an incredible 1,826-strong Bank Holiday crowd.

Fellow title rivals Witton and Burscough also both won yesterday to ensure the promotion race goes to the wire.

But, if Stanley beat Farsley at the Crown Ground on Saturday then they will go up as champions -- even though they have never been in the top two all season.

"It's a strange situation," admitted player/boss John Coleman, who started yesterday's rout with the opening goal.

"If we win our last game we go up as champions.

"And if we draw, we get nothing.

"But I expected Witton and Burscough to win again and I always knew it would go down to the wire.

"Now we've just got to keep our cool."

Fans were still queueing to get through turnstiles long after the kick-off as the Crown Ground boasted its biggest league gate in years.

And those supporters packed behind the bottom goal did not have long to wait before Coleman himself set the ball rolling. John Doolan began the 13th minute move when he found Russell Payne on the right and the whispey winger drifted past two men before finding Coleman who fired past Belper keeper Steve Roome from 20 yards.

Two minutes later Brett Baxter's free kick was again met by Coleman whose goal-bound effort was parried by Roome but Watson was unable to score from the rebound.

Baxter came within inches of increasing Stanley's lead on 19 minutes when he unleashed a thunderbolt shot from 30 yards out that took a deflection and came crashing back off the upright.

Stanley thought they had scored six minutes into stoppage time when Watson put the ball past Roome but was given offside.

The Reds appeared to be cruising five minutes after the break when Jonathan Smith met Mark Shirley's corner with a towering header which gave Roome no chance.

But Belper suddenly pulled one back completely out of the blue on 63 minutes when Carl Cunningham's cross from the right was met at the far post by Ross Mays. Then came a 10-minute spell of the jitters by Stanley but they restored their two-goal advantage with a superb goal on 76 minutes.

Substitute Mark Ceraolo flicked the ball on to Watson and, from just outside the penalty area, the former Preston North End man unleashed an unstoppable shot to net his sixth goal in eight games.

Victory was sealed three minutes later as Shirley picked out Baxter unmarked from a corner some 25 yards out and he coolly controlled the ball and then curled it into the top corner of the net for a candidate for goal of the season.

"I don't think we played as well as we can do," said Coleman.

"We played in fits and starts and it was only in the last 20 minutes when we really started to turn it on.

"But it's all about results at this stage of the season."