JOHN Coleman has challenged his Accrington Stanley side to finish the season unbeaten as the Reds eye a remarkable run to the play-offs.

At the end of January Stanley were 21st in the League Two table, just one point ahead of the relegation zone and 16 off the top seven.

But a 15 game unbeaten run has carried them to within two points of a play-off spot with three games to go, although they will still have to jump four places in a crowded race for the end-of-season promotion battle.

Coleman's side head to south Wales to face strugglers Newport County this weekend before finishing with games against fellow play-off rivals Luton and Stevenage, and the Wham Stadium chief wants his side to finish the campaign 18 unbeaten.

"All we can do is try and get as many points as we can," he said. "Let's go the rest of the season unbeaten. We don't want to it to peter out and we've got nine points to play for.

"The sad things is 81 points would have got you promoted this year and it might possibly be 77, so that's frustrating, that we were wrong place wrong time last year."

Stanley made it 11 unbeaten in front of their own fans with a 1-0 win over Crawley on Monday, but Coleman wasn't entirely convinced by his side's display.

"Nervy, we didn't play well, it was fits and starts but a great move for the goal," he said.

"We looked edgy, I didn't really have a go at the players but they've got to show more urgency, they had to show how much it mattered to win and we stepped it up second half.

"We got the goal but we then sat on it, we should be threatening more, we should be having more ball around their box. The last five minutes we were sat on the edge of our box trying to defend, and we did defend quite well to be fair, but you won't always get away with that."

Coleman added: "It's two points now, but we've got to get past four teams. We've got to keep plugging away, take care of your own business and let everyone else look after themselves. We can play better than that, and we have played better than that and not won, so it's pleasing we've managed to grind out a result."

Shay McCartan's 10th goal in 15 games earned Stanley the win on Monday, while Coleman also praised Billy Kee's 'outstanding' performance in leading the line.

And he was pleased his players tried to stick their style despite a few groans from the fans and a tricky pitch.

"They did (have to be patient), but you wouldn't know it," Coleman said of the support. "Quite a few behind me were moaning or groaning. It's not going to be perfect and pretty sometimes, they've got to appreciate we're not going to lump the ball forward, there's no point, we haven't got the players to do that.

"Sometimes it's annoying that we do overplay a little and we do go backwards a little bit too quickly, but we're winning games and that's got to be the key objective. When we do get our passing right we do play well.

"As the pitch turns and it gets bobbly and harder it's difficult and you've got to have belief in your own ability and belief in the method you're playing and thankfully our players have."