Accrington Stanley to send strong line-up for Darwen friendly

Stanley travel to Darwen for a 7.45pm kick-off before a match at Nelson tomorrow night.

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They then host Burnley on Saturday in a testimonial match for management duo John Coleman and Jimmy Bell.

Coleman was pleased with some elements of his side’s display against Blackburn, believing his side would have been full value for a draw had Anthony Barry not seen a penalty saved at 1-0.

The Reds experimented with a 4-3-3 formation in the match.

“I hate losing but it was a good work-out,” Coleman said of the Blackburn game.

“We were still experimenting, we started the game ever so well.

“We played a different system in the first half and these are the games to explore that.

“The more games they play, the stronger they’ll get and the more used to our system they’ll get.

“There is a lot more to come, we haven’t seen the best by a long chalk yet.

“We have great attacking options and we intend to use them.

“We’ll be sending strong teams to both Darwen and Nelson, and obviously there will be a strong team on Saturday.

“The players will get plenty of games in before the season starts.”

Stanley handed a trial appearance on Saturday to St Kitts and Nevis international Jason St Juste, who is a graduate of the Brazilian Soccer School programme in Leeds and helped North Ferriby United to a shock win over Wrexham in the FA Trophy last season.

Darwen go into tonight’s game still without a permanent manager after former Blackburn Rovers and Burnley player Peter Devine changed his mind on his decision to accept the job.

Nick Lloyd was caretaker manager for a long spell last season, successfully guiding Darwen to promotion to the North West Counties Premier Division, and remains at the club.

The Salmoners were beaten 5-0 in a friendly at Maine Road last week.

* Stanley’s League Two fixture at home to Leyton Orient has been brought forward 24 hours to Good Friday, March 25 at 3pm.