AMBITIOUS Accrington Stanley manager John Coleman has urged his side to show no mercy in their bid to earn a play-off place.

Stanley went from taming the Shrews at Gay Meadow on Saturday to silencing the Lambs at the Interlink Express Stadium in midweek.

And while the Reds chief was delighted to see his side grab three goals and keep a clean sheet against Tamworth, he believes they could, and should, have comfortably won by an even greater margin.

"As a team we gave the ball away far too cheaply," said Coleman, who takes his troops to Burton Albion tomorrow for the second time in two weeks.

"No disrespect to Tamworth, they've had their own problems with injuries, but against better teams you're going to get punished.

"We didn't keep the ball well enough or pass it enough. We were very sloppy and couldn't clear our lines - we just didn't seem at the races in the second half.

"If we had have been we could have made it a lot easier for ourselves."

He added: "Leading 2-0 at half-time, we were keen to stress that we had to get that third goal.

"It came but it was irrelevant because there was only a minute to go.

"We've got to be a lot brighter than that in and around the opposition half and not to panic so much at the back.

"There were times on Tuesday when we could have played it out at the back and we lashed at it, and other times when we should have cleared it quickly but tried to take an extra touch.

"It was just a case of making the wrong decision too often on Tuesday night and we were lucky we didn't let Tamworth score."

Coleman said the squad would work on a number of aspects in training in an effort to avoid a repeat of the 4-2 defeat they suffered in the FA Trophy at Eton Park two weeks ago.

"We got done once or twice on a straight ball and let them in, which was disappointing, we need to work on that as we need to work a bit on our approach play in and around the box," he said.

"In the last third we need to start looking at better movements and passing."

But the Stanley boss stressed he wasn't being harsh on his players.

"I'm not being over critical because I know we can do better. If I didn't think we could do better I wouldn't bother. I'd go out and get somebody else," he said.

"But we're a lot better than that as we've proved in the past, in home games especially.

"We've showed again that we have the ability to win even when we're not on top form.

"But I never get kidded by results.

"I'm a firm believer that form always comes through in the end and how you play reflects in what you can get out of this game.

"We can play better than that and I'm hoping that's what we do tomorrow."

Aspects of Tuesday's performance which did find favour with Coleman was the work rate of central midfielders Andy Procter and Steve Flitcroft as well as loan star Lee McEvilly's promising debut display.

"Andy and Steve are willing and they covered a lot of ground and I thought Lee did well.

"He tired a bit towards the end, but he's a strong player who won some very important headers defensively," Coleman said.

"He'll be an amazing asset for us as he gets fitter and match fit. You'll see a very important threat from him.

"We've got him for a month initially with a view to a permanent move. After that it will be down to how he does and all parties can sit down and discuss it.

"But his performance was encouraging on Tuesday and hopefully he'll get better."

McEvilly is expected to keep his place in the starting line-up tomorrow but central defender Steve Halford is suspended.