ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman felt his side had come out on the right side of a difficult contest after earning a 1-0 win over basement boys Forest Green Rovers.

The Reds moved to within two points of the League Two summit thanks to skipper Seamus Conneely's second half strike at the New Lawn.

The result left the hosts at the foot of the pile but Coleman felt his side were given a stern examination in Gloucestershire.

He said: "The effort that we put in was first class. We didn't hit the heights going forward that we have done but I must take my hat off to Forest Green for the way that they set their team up. They ran rings round us for good periods of that game.

"At half time you would have thought that we were the team at the bottom and they were the team at the top. I thought they were very unfortunate to come out of that game with nothing.

"If they keep playing like that between now and the end of the season they will rocket up the table.

"They set their team up really well with a really well thought out and in the end it forced us to change our system and when we did we got a stranglehold of the game.

"We were able then to see the game out quite comfortably in the end.

"That's probably one of the hardest games we have had."

The Reds were without striker Kayden Jackson who missed the trip with a hip injury but Coleman is hoping short term pain equals long term gain for the former Barnsley man.

He added: "He was touch and go to make the bench. He was never going to be ably to play 90 minutes. It is more of a strain than a knock and he is too important for us to risk him and lose him for several weeks."