ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman was in bullish mood as his side earned a FA Cup first-round replay against Tranmere.

Goalkeeper Kenny Arthur was the star of the show as he made a series of fantastic first-half saves to deny Ian Moore, Antony Kay and Gareth Edds to keep the Reds in with a shout of making the next round.

But Coleman was confident his side could win the replay at Prenton Park on Tuesday, November 18, kick-off 7.45pm, and claim their first FA Cup victory since 2003, when Stanley famously beat Bournemouth thanks to Paul Howarth’s winning penalty in the shoot-out.

It will be their third meeting of the season after the sides clashed in September in the Johnstone’s Paints Trophy, a game Rovers won 1-0.

Coleman said: “We’ve stopped the bleeding and now we’ve got to go one stage further and get the win.

“It’s ended a run of losing in this competition so now we have to go there and be positive. They’ve only scored one goal against us in 180 minutes.

“We’ve watched Tranmere a lot so we know how they play. We’ve set up to try and beat them and that’s what we’ll do next week.

“When the draw was made, Jimmy (Bell) said we’d rather play there and that’s exactly what we’ve got.

“Tranmere are a good side but so are we. Our lads have got to believe in themselves.

“They got a couple of chances from our mistakes and we need to eradicate them but we had a couple of half chances ourselves.

“We’ll go there with one thing in mind, to win the game.”

And the Reds supremo was also full of praise for his players for combating the League One side, especially keeper Arthur.

Coleman added: “Kenny made a couple of good saves but that’s what he’s paid to do.

“I thought we defended very well. Kenny made two very good saves and then got a bang in the face but carried on manfully. I also thought John Mullin was outstanding in midfield.

“I’d hoped we’d have carried more of a threat. We matched up with the way they played but we didn’t get our wide players in too many advanced positions and the odd chances we had were snap-shots.

“We worked a couple of good set-plays and we were disappointed that we didn’t convert.

“I have to say the FA Cup balls are a bit lively. I thought both teams found it difficult to control the ball and their passing because the ball’s a lot lighter than we’re used to playing with.”