JOHN Coleman will give Piero Mingoia a warm welcome back to the Wham Stadium tonight after admitting one of his biggest regrets in football is not playing the midfielder more.

The 25-year-old left Stanley in the summer to join Cambridge United and move closer to his family. He departed as a fans’ favourite and with huge respect from his teammates and the Reds staff.

His three years in East Lancashire were full of classy performances and cracking goals.

And Coleman, who inherited Mingoia when he arrived back at the club from spells with Rochdale and Sligo Rovers, admits he didn’t make the best use of him straight away.

He said: “When I first took over I didn’t know too much about him. I’d seen him play against Rochdale when I was there and he scored a goal. I didn’t use him for the first six weeks.

“We’d had a little bit of a dip in form and I decided to give him a go, and since the day I put him in I’m scratching my head thinking, ‘Why didn’t I use him before?’.

“It’s probably one of the biggest mistakes of my managerial career, leaving him out for so long.”

Mingoia started his career at Watford and played seven games on loan at Stanley before making the move permanently at the start of the following season.He played over 100 games for the club and scored 14 goals, including a screamer in the second leg of last season’s play-off semi-final with Wimbledon when the Reds fell agonisingly short of booking a Wembley appearance.

Coleman says he would have lost the player regardless of whether Stanley had secured promotion, but insists he’s someone who always gave his all in an Accrington shirt and they will always stay in touch.

“I always knew he’d be a loss,” the manager explained. “The beauty about Piero was even when he wasn't playing well he contributed to the team with his workrate, enthusiasm and his effort.

“He’s got a flawless character and that’s something that’s really, really important.

“If you can get enough of them in your side you’ve got a chance of going wherever you want to go.

“He moved because he wanted to live in that area. I think he was always going to go, it’s just a shame that he couldn’t leave on a high of us winning promotion.

”I’ve got no issue with Piero going, I would have liked him to stay a bit longer, but he felt it was the right time.

“Whether it turns out to be the right move for him or not, that remains to be seen.

“But he’s one of the players that you’ll keep in touch with throughout your life because he’s an infectious character, a really nice kid and I hope he has a really good career."