CAPTAIN Luke Joyce says derby day has come at the right time for Accrington Stanley.

The Reds earned their first League Two win of the season, at home to Bristol Rovers in Tuesday, the night that Morecambe’s nine-game unbeaten run come to an emphatic end with a 3-0 loss at Cheltenham.

Stanley manager James Beattie has called for their 2-1 triumph over the Gas to be the catalyst that kick-starts their season.

And Joyce believes they couldn’t ask for a better game to begin with than a showdown with the Shrimps.

“It’s one where both teams are desperate to win and one where the fans want to make sure they come away from the ground with a smile on their face and have got the bragging rights,” said the midfielder.

“Them getting beat 3-0 on Tuesday night has maybe knocked their confidence a little bit.

“But whether they’d got best or not they’d still come into this game wanting to win. It’s a derby and a game they’ve not won for a number of years.

“Whatever kind if form the teams were in it still would be 11 lads on each side going at it 100 per cent wanting to win a game for the club and for the fans.

“They’ll want to respond and get a better result than they did on Tuesday night. We’re full of confidence, unbeaten in three and getting our first win on Tuesday.

“Our last couple of performances away from home have been really solid, we’ve looked good at the back and dangerous up front, so I think it’s got the makings of a really good game.

“We’re looking to go on and make up for the games that we haven’t won previously that we should have.

“We know what it feels like to win a game and I think it will give us confidence knowing we have gone through a game, going 1-0 down and coming back to score two goals - and two really good goals - and put in a good performance at the same time.”

And Joyce is looking to protect Stanley’s proud unbeaten record against Morecambe, which stretches back to 2005 in the Conference.

“We’ve had a great record against them over the last few years, certainly since I’ve been here. We’ve played them in Boxing Day and beaten them. I just think we’re probably their bogey team. For some reason they just can’t seem to get a win over us in the league. We’re hoping to keep that going,” said Joyce, who is relishing a reunion with former Reds team-mates Padraig Amond and Jack Sampson, while Mark Hughes, who spent the second half of last season on loan from Bury, is suspended.

“We know it’s not going to be an easy game, they’ve done really well this season. Obviously they’ve got a couple of our ex players who will be looking forward to it.

“Podge and Jack Sampson were both playing for us last season and we’ve seen that they’ve both scored goals, both done well, they’re both good players.

“They’ll want to get one over on us but at the same time we’ll be making sure we keep them quiet.

“It’s a game we can go into with confidence from our last three games and one that we can definitely win.”

But while history is in their side, Joyce has warned against complacency creeping in on the strength of recent results against Morecambe.

“Every time we play them it’s always been a decent result and a good performance. It’s just something that we need to keep going and not rely on that too much,” he said.

“It’s just another game at the end of the day and what’s happened in the past doesn’t really make that much difference because a lot of the lads now probably haven’t played against Morecambe for Accrington.

“It’s something we’re proud of doing in the past, but at the same time it’s a new team, a different Morecambe team from over the past few seasons and we just want the three points.”

He added: “There’s no better feeling than winning football matches, that’s why we play. That’s what we want every Saturday or Tuesday.

“We’re really looking forward to it. Everyone’s got a smile on their face after winning, you can tell the atmosphere’s that bit better.

“We want more wins and more points now.”