JOHN Coleman is refusing to use Accrington Stanley’s growing injury list as an excuse - although he admitted it is ‘crisis time’.

The Reds suffered a heavy 7-0 defeat at Peterborough on Saturday as they slipped to a sixth defeat in their last 10 outings - picking up just eight points out of a possible 30.

Stanley were already stretched to the limit going in to the clash at London Road and they lost another four players to injury at the weekend - something Coleman said had never happened before in one game during his 24 years as a manager.

Mark Hughes, Ben Barclay and Sean McConville all had to be replaced before substitute Rhys Fenlon also went off after pulling his hamstring as the Reds finished with 10 players.

With Colby Bishop, Joe Pritchard and Seamus Conneely also out and Dion Charles on international duty with Northern Ireland, Coleman said it could have been a different outcome with a full squad but he praised Posh for taking their chances.

“I would like to think so (on having a full squad making a difference) but you are detracting from how well Peterborough played and you are detracting on our lads who gave their all,” said Coleman who is also without long-term causalities Mo Sangara, Lamine Kaba Sherif, Ross Sykes, Watford loanee Ryan Cassidy and Tariq Uwakwe while keeper Nathan Baxter has returned to parent club Chelsea following his season-ending shoulder injury.

“We got beat 7-0 but they didn’t roll over, they ran themselves in to the ground. It wasn’t for the lack of trying it was just that Peterborough were miles better than us on the day and things like that happen in football and you have just got to accept it.

“Rather than us bemoan our luck why not just give Peterborough a pat on the back and say ‘Well done, next time we play you, let’s have a really good go again.’”

Having enjoyed big wins themselves in recent seasons, Coleman said these things happen in football and his main concern now is trying to get a fit squad together.

“We can’t complain, I have been around football long enough to know that there are certain days when nothing goes for you,” Coleman told the club website.

“Everything went right for them, you don’t get them very often, we’ve had a couple. We had one against Bristol Rovers earlier on in the season and we one against Bolton last year where we scored seven and six respectively.

He added: “It was hard to take, I have lost 8-2 here and we won the next game 2-0. The big problem for me is not losing seven today, the big problem for me was losing four players to injury.

“I can’t ever remember an injury crisis like this in almost 25 years as a manager, I have never lost four players in a game through injury and add to the eight or nine who are on the treatment table it’s crisis time.”

The playing surface at London Road raised a few eyebrows but again, Coleman refused to use that as a reason for a 13th defeat of the season.

“It was very difficult to control a ball,” he said. “Ironically when we lost 8-2 here it was like a boating lake on the far side, the game should have been abandoned with 25 minutes to go, it was embarrassing but no-one sets out to make the pitch that bad, I’ve played on worse, a lot worse and we are certainly not using that as an excuse and that is for sure.”