JIMMY Bell has hinted that Accrington Stanley are ready to do a bit of wheeling and dealing' in the January transfer window.

But the Stanley assistant manager said that if the Reds cannot bring in any New Year reinforcements, the club is happy with the current squad at the Fraser Eagle Stadium.

John Coleman will lose the services of Rommy Boco next month when he flies off to captain Benin in the African Cup of Nations in Ghana.

But with the club hopeful of extending the loan deal of Ian Craney, and with Lee McEvilly and Paul Carden set to return from their loan deals, Bell said the squad should still be strong enough to push for the play-offs.

"Myself and John are talking now about doing some wheeling and dealing in January," said Bell. "But we are lucky to be in the position where the chairman has allowed us to have a squad of more than 20 players.

"So although we will be losing Rommy, we have got Lee and Paul to come back, while Kenny Arthur and Peter Cavanagh are not too far away from returning from injury.

"So we can't really complain in that department."

After today's clash with Shrewsbury, Stanley go into the frantic Christmas period where they play four games in nine days.

Trips to struggling Grimsby and bottom-of-the-table Mansfield are followed by home games against Bradford and Chester City - fixtures which look favourable on paper.

But Bell has warned against taking anything for granted.

"They are all winnable games but, just as importantly, they are loseable as well," said Bell. "The one thing we have learnt in this league is that every team is capable of beating each other."

That point was proved over three weekends when Chesterfield won at MK Dons, who hammered Stanley 5-0, before the Reds bounced back to beat the Spireites last Saturday.

Bell added: "Myself and John spoke at length with Paul Ince after the MK Dons game and he told us how good Chesterfield were.

"They had won at MK Dons the previous week, but we then went and beat them at our place!"