ACCRINGTON Stanley’s Matt Crooks exorcised some personal demons with the winner against Yeovil Town at the Wham Stadium to hand Stanley their best Football League start since the 1950s.

The 21-year-old, whose open goal miss against the same opposition in the FA Cup last season played a part in costing the Reds a tie against Manchester United, netted a brilliant second half goal to send the Reds into the League Two automatic promotion places.

Stanley brought great momentum into the game and took an early lead courtesy of the in-form Josh Windass. He gambled on the edge of the box to latch onto Billy Kee’s header, chested the ball down and guided his sixth goal of the season beyond Artur Krysiak into the corner of the net.

That set the tone for the opening exchanges, with Sean McConville heading wide at the far post from a terrific Piero Mingoia delivery before Windass got beyond the backline again and clipped wide and Seamus Conneely headed an Adam Buxton delivery over the top.

The Reds had created enough chances to be comfortable in the game and created another when Windass met Liam Wakefield’s delivery but headed wide – and moments later they were pegged back.

Midfielder Josh Sheehan picked the ball up on the left wing and cut in to run at the Stanley defence, advancing into a dangerous position and picking out the bottom right corner of Jason Mooney’s net to make it 1-1.

It could have been worse, with Ryan Bird firing wide soon after but within minutes normal service was resumed as John Coleman’s team piled on the pressure. A Buxton free kick flew wide, a chip from Windass was off target and Joe Wright nodded wide as they looked to retake the lead to no avail and the half time score was 1-1.

Yeovil’s goal had lifted them and after the interval Bird chipped over and Matt Dolan forced a good save from Mooney as they looked to turn things around.

But at the other end it was all about Crooks. The midfielder had a free header from a Mingoia cross and guided it straight to the goalkeeper to the dismay of the home fans. But if that was the Crooks of last season, the 2015/16 version soon appeared.

The former Huddersfield man notched his fourth goal of the season with a stunning drive from the edge of the box after Kee had laid it off. As the ball curled in, Crooks began a charge to the sidelines borne of joy and you’d have to imagine relief.

Now Krysiak’s goal was under pressure, with the Polish custodian forced to fly to his right to keep out a McConville strike before parrying from Windass from a tight angle inside the area.

It could and perhaps should have been more, with Crooks teeing up Kee to strike over the top and the visitors close to an own goal when Nathan Smith diverted Buxton’s cross inches wide of the post but it seemed fitting that a Crooks contribution proved to be telling.

John Coleman’s side could have gone top of the table had results gone their way elsewhere.

But Wycombe Wanderers remain League Two leaders following their 1-0 victory over Cambridge thanks to Harriman’s winning goal with 20 minutes remaining.

Wanderers move up to 21 points, one ahead of Plymouth Argle in second place following their 2-1 victory over Barnet while Portsmouth lost 2-1 at home to Exeter City at Fratton Park.

Elsewhere, play-off chasing Leyton Orient slipped to a 2-1 home defeat to Carlisle while Oxford United climbed up to sixth place after they won 2-1 at York.

Mansfield occupy the final play-off position after beating Stevenage 2-0.

Stanley: Mooney, Wakefield, Wright, Pearson, Buxton, Crooks, Conneely, Mingoia, McConville, Windass, Kee Subs: Etheridge, Procter, Morgan, Gornell, McCartan, Bruna, Goulding