THEY say there's nothing more dangerous than a woun-ded animal.

And Stanley boss John Coleman is hoping to harness the hurt inflicted by the 8-2 defeat at Peterborough on January 15 as they travel up to Darlington tonight.

The defeat was the low point of the season and Coleman is itching to get back into action.

Stanley were hoping to get that shock loss out of their system four days later but their scheduled game against Brentford at the Fraser Eagle Stadium was called off just an hour before kick-off.

And now, it's been two weeks since the drubbing at London Road and Coleman can't wait to get back into competitive action, although he admits he's been able to work his players hard on the training ground.

He said: "It was very frustrating when you saw the state of the pitch we finished on against Peterborough and the state of the pitch we played on against Stockport.

"So to have the game called off against Brentford was nothing short of an injustice. We never complained about either of those pitches and we lost those games.

"The lads were keyed up to play and they couldn't wait to play and were as disappointed as anybody.

"The break was more of a hindrance than a help. I would rather have played straight after what happened at Peterborough and rectify those mistakes while they were still fresh in the mind.

"We will go into the game and give it our best shot. We're not going there to make the numbers or for a draw - we're going to try and win - and that's what we try and do in every game."

He added: "I hope the boys will have kept that desire to play and hopefully they will show that tonight.

"The problem is you can dwell on things too much. What we've tried to do is work hard and do a little bit more fitness work because in the past, games have governed how we've trained and hopefully we'll see the benefits of that come the tail end of the season when the games come thick and fast.

"We tried to go back to basics defensively as a team, not just as a back four, and we've got to try and give ourselves a platform to win games.

"We know we have to get ourselves right. I think the lads are still smarting after the Peterborough game. I think we need to put that to bed now and look forward.

"We can't get the opportunity to play Peterborough back but we have got an opportunity to get three points. We passed that one up against Peterborough and hopefully we won't pass it up against Darlington tonight."

As the season begins the slow build up to the climax of the campaign, Coleman still has his eyes on a play-off place.

He added: "There's only one way we want to move, and that's up, but that only comes down to hard work and we can't rely on the teams below faltering.

"If you pass up on the chance to go forward, then you can end up going backwards. We just want to try and win every game we play and see where that takes us.

"Any team that makes a surge now can put themselves in with a real chance of making the play-offs.

"We haven't won in 2008. We have to put that to bed first and then go from there. That stat plays on my mind and I want to change that as soon as possible."