JOHN Coleman knows his Stanley side will face a Cheltenham Town team full of confidence tomorrow following the Robins’ midweek thrashing of Leicester City.

While the 6-1 pummelling in the Checkatrade Trophy was against a Foxes Under-23s team featuring names like Matt Miles and Layton Ndukwu rather than Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardie, the result is still a ‘shot in the arm’ according the Reds boss.

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But Coleman’s side are also buoyant after going three games unbeaten and he says they are desperate to get another positive result at Whaddon Road.

“I said earlier on in the month that I can’t single out games for more importance,” he said.

“People will look at them and this as a big game because of the two team’s proximity to each other and the distance you can claw back.

“But every game I play I am so desperate to win that I can’t raise it any more.

“They (Cheltenham) have had a smashing win during the week – a real shot in the arm for them confidence-wise, a 6-1 win – so they’ll be going into it full of beans and will see it as a marvellous opportunity to close the gap right up.”

“I’d like to think we’ll be better than Leicester City’s Under-23s. I had a good chat with the Leicester Under-23s manager on Wednesday, so that’s not being disparaging to them, but he realises the difference and we’ve got to make sure there is a difference.”Last weekend’s 2-1 FA Cup win over Luton followed a 2-2 home draw with Hartlepool and 1-0 win at Crewe on New Year’s Eve.

Coleman welcomes the feel-good factor those results have brought to the Wham Stadium, and he still harbours hopes of climbing into the top half of the table before the end of what he describes as a ‘freak season’.

“I watched Wycombe during the week and you can see the confidence in their players,” he said.“There’s definitely a lot to be said about winning breeding confidence and We’ve just got to make sure we keep this mini-run going,” he said. “It’s three games unbeaten, with two wins and draw, and we’ve go to hope that we can carry it on.

“There is a different feeling after the recent results, you could just see it around the place and Monday and Tuesday.

“We’ve got to build on that and it’s up to us, not to get complacent, but certainly enjoy the feel-good factor.”

Coleman added: “This season has been a bit of a freak season for me – not everything has panned out the way you would think it would. I think between now and May there will be a host of unpredictable scores, and we’ve got to concentrate on ourselves and try to climb the table as best we can.

“Our target firstly is to get into the top half.”

Gary Johnson’s second-from-bottom Town pinched a point with a last-minute leveller in the reverse fixture at the Wham Stadium in October, but Coleman says he doesn’t see tomorrow’s clash as having a score to settle.

“If you do that you can quickly lose your focus,” he explained.

“People said that about us at Hartlepool, that we didn’t avenge that. We’ve just got to try to pick up points and certainly against the teams that are below you it’s imperative.

“Our form against the top half is very good, we’ve probably got the best form out of anybody against the top six, but we’ve got to start doing it against the bottom half teams.”