IT was a night of successful returns at the Wham Stadium as Accrington Stanley celebrated a first home game in two months with three points and two players marked recalls to the first team with goals.

Adam Buxton and Shay McCartan marked starts with crucial contributions as the Reds out-classed Hartlepool United to win 3-1.

John Coleman had predicted some rustiness from his players but if that was the case it didn’t show as the Reds started brightly and put pressure on the Hartlepool goal.

Visiting goalkeeper Trevor Carson was a busy man, producing a number of good saves to keep his hosts at bay starting with an excellent stop to thwart Matt Crooks.

The midfielder, playing for the first time since agreeing a summer move to Rangers, thought he’d scored with a wonderful left foot curler only for Carson to paw the ball round the post.

The Northern Irish custodian then made a routine stop from McCartan before pushing out a Billy Kee header from Piero Mingoia’s cross.

But his goal was not to remain unbreached, with Buxton producing a moment of magic to break the deadlock. When Stanley were awarded a free kick just outside the box on the left the full back stepped up and powered the ball over the wall and past Carson for a superb first goal of the season.

Coleman’s side were well on top but Pools sounded a warning when debutant Ellis Harrison headed a Jordan Richards corner beyond Jason Mooney and off the post.

The Reds responded. They rattled the frame of the goal with Matty Pearson heading against the post following a scramble from Sean McConville’s corner.

Stanley did deservedly double their lead before the break with the sparkling McCartan spinning past his man outside the area, bursting into the box and lifting the ball beyond Carson.

Things continued in a similar vein after the break, with Carson pushing a Kee effort over the bar as Coleman’s team looked for a third.

That soon arrived, and in some style from McCartan. The Northern Ireland Under-21 man plucked the ball from the sky outside the area, cut in onto his left foot and passed it precisely beyond Carson in to the left corner.

A double substitution galvanised the visitors and they hit back, with one of the replacements, Rakish Bingham, finding the corner of the net from the edge of the box to reduce the deficit.

And Bingham should probably have had a penalty when he fell when through on goal but referee Darren Drysdale disagreed.

Instead Stanley pushed on, with substitute Terry Gornell close to a fourth goal in second half stoppage time.

For a crowd of 1,211 and two Stanley players a home game may have been a long time in coming but proved to be worth the wait.

Stanley: Mooney, Halliday, Pearson, Wright, Buxton, Mingoia, Conneely, Crooks, McConville (Proctor 94), McCartan (Bruna 83), Kee (Gornell 75). Subs not used: Etheridge, Barry, Davies, Wakefield