ACCRINGTON Stanley striker Terry Gornell has warned that the Reds’ promotion hopes will be over if they do not start to go on a winning run immediately.

Stanley face a difficult trip to fourth-placed Wycombe Wanderers tomorrow having slipped to 19th in the League Two table in recent weeks following a number of postponements and a failure to win any of their last four matches.

Only Stockport County and Barnet, both currently occupying the relegation zone, have now won less games than Stanley this season and Gornell knows that must change quickly if they are to keep alive their ambitions of reaching the play-offs.

The Reds have drawn 12 of their 27 games and lost 2-0 at Rotherham on Tuesday when they had more than enough chances to win the match.

Twelve points behind the play-offs, albeit with games in hand, the task of reaching the top seven is starting to look daunting.

Indeed, Stanley are now only five points ahead of the drop zone – although they have played several matches less than the bottom two.

“Tuesday was really disappoin-ting,” said Gornell.

“I thought we played well but it’s the story of our season so far.

“We need to start winning games and winning them quick.

“We’ve got to go on a run sooner rather than later.

“Games are running out and if we don’t do it we’ll be looking behind us and the bottom end of the table.

“We’ve got to go and look to get a result on Saturday.

“Challenging for the play-offs means a lot to everyone. The lads are disappointed and so we should be. We should be up there and everyone knows that.

“But the table doesn’t lie, we haven’t won enough games and we’ve got to start.

“We’ve left ourselves a lot of pressure building on games now but that’s the nature of football.

“And we’ve done it a few times this year, getting a couple of bad results and then pulling a good win out, so there’s no reason why we can’t do it on Saturday.”

On-loan Burnley centre back Kevin Long, returning from injury, is pushing for a start after completing 90 minutes for the reserves’ 2-2 draw at Wrexham in midweek – secured thanks to a Peter Murphy penalty and a strike from Andrew Owens.

Rory Boulding was sent off in the game and will now have to serve a three-match first-team ban, but that will not start until March 2 under FA rules for reserve fixtures.