ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman insists he never feared a promotion party hangover as his players go in pursuit of the League Two title.

The Reds inched closer to finishing the season as champions after their 4-0 win at Wycombe Wanderers put a dent in the Chairboys’ own automatic promotion ambitions.

Stanley now need just one point from their remaining three games to secure top spot, after Luton’s draw at Carlisle United left them six points adrift with a game less to play.

And Coleman said once Stanley got their noses in front at Adams Park he knew there was only going to be one winner, with the home side missing key front man Ade Akinfenwa, while the Reds ran riot with goals for Kayden Jackson, Scott Brown, Sean McConville and a first league goal for substitute Offrande Zanzala, who completed the scoring from the penalty spot.

“I thought we played well. The first five or 10 minutes they flew out of the traps and Wycombe had a couple of good chances, a couple of corners. Our keeper’s made an unbelievable save which has kept us in the game and we’ve got our goal and I think once the first goal went in it settled everybody down,” said the Reds boss “We played some good attacking football, scored some good goals and maybe could have had a few more so all in all it was pleasing.

“I can’t praise our lads enough. People were questioning our motivation, saying we had been partying all week. We hadn’t, the reality is we celebrated an historic promotion on Tuesday and a couple of the lads went out for a drink on Wednesday. They went to bed at an appropriate time, they slept and then they trained hard on Thursday and Friday and we prepared right for the game.

“So that was an answer to the people that were doubting us.

“And we possibly found Wycombe at the right time, they’ve had a lot of illness in the camp, big Akinfenwa is a great player and a good talisman for them, and they have to alter their style of play when he’s not playing so he was a big miss for them.

“And I think the rest of the illness just caught up on them. They looked jaded a bit today and we were able to capitalise on it.

“But Wycombe are a very good team, great atmosphere here and great stadium, and a great manager in Gareth Ainsworth who has done a terrific job here, and I hope they follow us up with promotion.”

Coleman made a substitution for the first time in 10 games – using all three in the end, including Zanzala, a late second half replacement for Billy Kee, who had earlier suffered a head injury.

“Billy’s got a cut on his head. He doesn’t like playing with bandages so we just thought it was the right time to take him off,” said the Stanley boss.