ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman insists his side will get better after the Reds suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Exeter City on Saturday.

After a first half dominated by Stanley the visitors took the lead through Ryan Harley on 66 minutes.

Former Exeter man Aaron Davies levelled for the Reds but Jake Taylor then netted a winner for the Grecians.

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And while Coleman was angry at the manner of his side’s second half performance, he believes that Stanley – beaten in the League Two play-offs last season – can contend once again at the top end of the table.

“They came here expecting a tough game and we didn’t give them a tough enough game, except for the first half hour,” said Coleman.

“We’ve given them a boost and given them their first win. It’s not good enough by us and we’ve got to improve.

“We’re not showing enough passion or enough drive. We’re going backwards far too quickly with the ball. It is hard to watch sometimes.

“I want to excite the crowd and we’re not.

“We are in patches here and there but not for sustained periods and I would expect that as a home fan. I’d expect us to take the game to teams.

“We’ve got to work harder on the pitch and work harder off the pitch and we’ve got to put it right.

“We’ve got good players – we’ve got five or six players who any manager would bite your hand off to have in his side.

“We’ve just got to get better and I am sure we will.”

Coleman felt his side paid for a host of missed first half opportunities against Exeter – who began the day bottom of the table – and admitted his side didn’t do enough in the second half to merit taking anything out of the game.

“We had chances in the first half and we didn’t take them,” said the Reds chief.

“They didn’t hurt us whatsoever in the first half and it was too easy for us.

“They decided to up their game in the second half and we didn’t so you’d have to say they deserved to win in the end because they scored two good goals.

“We had chances but it wasn’t sustained pressure.

“We didn’t get going in the second half and if you invite teams into your box you know you’re going to be in trouble.

Coleman added: “It’s a great strike for the first goal, there’s very little you can do about that, but the second goal is very avoidable and we’ve got to be better than that.”