ACCRINGTON Stanley will come up against a familiar face tomorrow when they make the trip to Cambridge United.

Piero Mingoia made more than 120 appearances for the Reds and came within a whisker of helping them to promotion in the 2015-16 season.

The 26-year-old spent four years at the Wham Stadium having initially joined on loan and Stanley boss John Coleman revealed the former Watford man could take credit for some of the free-flowing football the Reds play now despite having left 18 months ago .

“He is a smashing lad, he was a fantastic player,” Coleman said.

“The second time around (when Coleman returned to the Reds as manager in 2014) I left him on the bench for five weeks and that was probably too long because once he got in he was never going to get out.

“He had work rate and endeavour, forget his ability which was also top drawer as was his crossing.

“He gave us the idea to play the system that we play now so he is a forerunner to what we do today.

“The way he plays meant that we decided to go with a bit more width and two hard working wingers who help us defensively and you have only to look at Sean (McConville) and Jordan (Clark) and how hard they work to see the advantages of that.”