ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman believes pre-season friendlies will be the perfect time to gauge the potential of four of the club's young stars.

The Reds return from their summer break at the end of this month before a busy pre-season schedule in July which sees games with Championship neighbours Blackburn Rovers and Burnley.

And Coleman plans to give Max Hazeldine, Keenan Quansah, Kealan Steenson and Liam Goulding their chance to impress after the quartet all signed new deals at the end of last season.

Goulding penned a new one-year contract while the other three all signed their first professional deals.

“If young players are good enough then they’ll take the chance that they are given,” said Coleman.

“It’s got nothing to do with their age. They’ll get plenty of playing time in pre-season and that will be their first chance to shine."

And Coleman admits he will also be studying the four, as well as the rest of his squad, closely in training as he builds towards the first game of the new League Two season on August 8 when Stanley host Luton Town.

The Reds boss added of the youngsters: "They’ll have that chance to shine every day in training.

"You can see people’s attitudes, you can see their appetite for the game and their willingness to work.

“Players who don’t leave anything on the training pitch tend to do the same for the real thing in the games so we’ll be looking for those young lads to make an impression with everything they do for us.”

Stanley kick off their pre-season schedule with a trip to Colne on Wednesday July 8 before Rovers visit the Store First Stadium on Saturday, July 11.

Coleman's men host Burnley on Saturday July 18 and Rochdale on Tuesday, July 28, and also have trips to AFC Darwen, Nelson and Marine before the big kick-off.