AFTER making only his fourth start in two years last weekend, Leam Richardson was never likely to complain about the daunting fixture schedule that gets underway tomorrow – and he believes Accrington Stanley now have the squad to cope with the workload.

Stanley play the first of 14 league games in the space of 50 days when they host Southend at the Crown Ground, with midweek fixtures in seven of the next eight weeks after a number of postponements earlier in the season.

A similar fixture list caught up with the Reds at the same stage last season when a small squad became drained and a play-off challenge fizzled out alarmingly in a run of just three wins in 18 matches.

Richardson had to watch from the sidelines then, unable to help and only returning for the final two games of the campaign as he fought his way back from a persistent pelvic injury that almost forced him to retire.

But, fit again this season, the 31-year-old was back in the line-up for Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Stevenage – when the Reds came back from 2-0 down with three minutes left.

He hopes the fixture list coming up will give him the opportunity to get more games under his belt and thinks Stanley, currently on 33 points but with half a dozen more players available than at this time last year, can build on the Stevenage result.

“I think having got a good point at Stevenage, particularly coming from 2-0 down, hopefully we can get a lot of belief from that now,” said the former Blackburn Rovers defender, who played in a wide midfield role at the weekend.

“There are a lot of games left and we know what we need if we’re going to get into the play-offs.

“We’re looking at 70 points, and with 20 games left that’s do-able.

“I think we have got the squad now to cope. Last year that was possibly where we fell short. But now we have players who haven’t even been on the bench at times who can come in and do a good job.

“I think the lads prefer playing to training and playing games helps me to keep ticking over.

“It has obviously been a difficult time for me in the last couple of years, so I want to keep playing.”

The Crown Ground pitch has been heavy even during dry periods recently and Stanley will hope rain over the last fortnight will not cause problems tomorrow.

“It might be a bit heavy but it will be the same for both sides,” said Richardson.