STANLEY boss John Coleman paid tribute to National League side Guiseley after the Yorkshire outfit dumped the Reds out of the FA Cup.

Coleman's side were humbled at the Wham Stadium, losing on penalties after drawing 1-1 with the Lions despite the visitors playing 75 of the 120 minutes with 10 men.

The Stanley chief was disappointed his failed to seize the initiative when they had a man advantage and a goal advantage in the second half, but he was full of praise for the spirit of the National League strugglers.

"I've got to congratulate Guiseley, they went down to 10, stuck to their game plan, worked ever so hard and we didn't create the chances against 10 men that we did against 11 in the second half, and you have to give credit to them. I hope they do well against Mansfield in the next round," Coleman said.

"You have nights when it's just not your night and as much as you try and make it your night events pan out that go against you.

"They've gone down to 10, they're struggling in the National League but they've raised their game and they showed a lot of heart and character.

"But we've got to learn from these situations. We've tried to see out 1-0 wins in the past and been successful and unsuccessful. We've got to kill games and we didn't try to do that in the second half. We didn't look like scoring after the goal against 10 men and that's poor."

An entertaining game was punctuated by several controversial decisions, including Charles Breakspear awarding Guiseley the chance to equalise from the spot just over 10 minutes from the end.

But Coleman refused to use that as an excuse, adding: "We can't hide behind refereeing decisions. It would be dead easy to do that but I'm not going to do that.

"We had enough of the game to win it and we shouldn't be relying on a referee and whether he makes a mistake or not."

Coleman admits the cup exit will hurt chairman Andy Holt, with the club losing out on a potentially crucial pay day if they had progressed to the third round.

But with the Reds sitting second in League Two promotion remains the target and Coleman is determined to refocus minds ahead of Saturday's home clash with Newport County.

"We've got to pick ourselves up, we've got a massive game on Saturday which in the grand scheme of things will be more important than tonight. I feel for the chairman because it's a pay day lost and that's frustrating for him," the Reds boss said.

"But I was never going to win the FA Cup. I could win League Two, but we will have to play better than we did in the second half tonight.

"We've got bigger fish to fry than the FA Cup. I know the chairman won't like that and it does hurt, but we've got to try and motivate ourselves to win the game on Saturday.

"It's not all doom and gloom. We're second in the league and we've got use this to spur us on. But it will be disappointing when we're not playing in a fortnight's time.

"It will be hurt for a week or so, but the best way of putting it right is winning on Saturday."