JOHN Coleman has admitted it took him a while to get over being held to a draw at home to Northampton Town on Saturday, but hopes to find the remedy in their next game.

Accrington Stanley had to come from behind to preserve a point against the Cobblers through Josh Windass’ 55th-minute penalty.

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But manager Coleman felt it was a game they should have won. “I had a cob-on all weekend to be honest,” said the Reds boss.

“There are just areas that we can improve on and they’re not difficult areas to improve on, that’s the thing.

“I must have watched the goal they scored 100 times and the more I watch it the easier it gets to defend.

“That’s the annoying part of it, just basic things that should be adhered to that aren’t being adhered to at the moment.

“We didn’t press like I want us to press, we didn’t play with a tempo like we’d practised in training during the week. The lads were under no illusions of the style of football I wanted to play.

“For whatever reason we didn’t hit those heights, we didn’t play the way we had planned to.

“That’s something we need to look at.”

Coleman will be looking for improvements when attention turns to the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tonight with the visit of League One Bury (kick-off 7.45pm).

And he sees the tie as an opportunity for his players to stake their place, or win it.

“We’ve got enough pushing for starting places and the selection is difficult at the moment,” he said. “Some players will make my selection easy by what they turn out on the pitch.

“I’ve always said you don’t take the shirt off players for the sake of it, they give it you back. I can see that happening.

“There might be a couple of opportunities for other players to stake a claim for a place because we can’t rest on our laurels.

“We can’t just have a starting XI. People can get complacent and that’s going to have to change.”

Saturday’s goalscorer Windass is a doubt through injury.