Stanley boss Richardson will sacrifice his hair for League Two safety (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Stanley boss Richardson will sacrifice his hair for League Two safety

11:45am Friday 22nd March 2013 in Football By Suzanne Geldard, Burnley FC reporter

LEAM Richardson says he would accept going grey at the tender age off 33 if it meant Football League survival for Accrington Stanley.

“I’d dye it!” he said.

But the Reds manager is hoping it won’t come to that after their first back-to-back wins since September lifted them out of the relegation zone this week.

Stanley remained bottom on Saturday despite beating relegation rivals Barnet 3-2.

But they moved up to 21st thanks to their 4-0 thrashing of AFC Wimbledon on Tuesday night.

To stay out of danger, Richardson’s side must get a result on the road against league leaders Gillingham this afternoon. A daunting task. But it is a challenge the Reds boss says they must live up to.

“It would be too early to get too overawed with a couple of results. For me we need another three,” he said. “Then I’ll be made up.

“Until then it’s no good just having two wins and not turning up for the rest of the season. What good teams do is go again.

“I said at half-time on Tuesday that in both the last two games when we’ve gone in 3-1 and 3-0 up, good teams go again and make it four and five.

“That's what we need to do for the rest of the games – turn up and do more of the same.”

Missed opportunities in earlier fixtures are part of Richardson's motivation too.

“We’ve been saying for a while that we find ourselves a little bit unlucky,” he added.

“If you look back on certain games whether they be refereeing decisions or just a little bit of luck that’s not gone our way – Southend, Cheltenham, Torquay – they're three games that are not ones we could have won but ones we should have won.

“We should have another three wins on the board. But we’ve just got to put it right.”

And Richardson insists he has never lost faith in himself or his squad, despite a two-week spell in the relegation places.

“I fully believe in what I do and I’m confident in what I do and I need to filter that down to the group. Of late we’ve done that,” he said.

“It would be great if we bring a result back here from Gillingham this weekend. We’ll be full of confidence and be able to look forward to building again on a really good month.”

Stanley are without Rommy Boco, who is on international duty with Benin, but could be boosted by the return of striker Padraig Amond following a groin injury.

“He’ll have a good couple of days’ training and we’ll assess it there with the rest of the squad. We have a couple of knocks so he could find himself in the squad,” said Richardson.

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