ACCRINGTON Stanley manager John Coleman has insisted he will come out fighting after the worst defeat of his managerial career - and he hopes his players will do the same.

The Reds suffered humiliation at the hands of promotion-chasing Peterborough United, losing 8-2 courtesy of hat-tricks for George Boyd and Aaron McLean, and a Craig Mackail-Smith brace.

"Conceding eight goals has never happened before to me as a manager and we'll find out on Saturday what character we're made of," he said, pointing to the home game against Brentford for an immediate positive response.

"If I was one of the players I couldn't wait for Saturday to come, and as a person myself I can't wait for it to come.

"I'm not the type of person who crawls into a corner, I'll stick my chest out and I'll deal with whatever comes my way"

He added: "I've had some good nights and I've had some bad nights. I've had times when I've felt worse than this.

"I've had some bad defeats since I've been here, and I've had some good wins.

"There's not a lot you can say about that. We didn't defend very well and Peterborough are the type of side that, when they get their tails up, they've got good forwards who are a handful for anyone.

"It was ironic that they never had a shot on target on Saturday but they more than made up for it tonight.

"Give them their due they scored some good goals - not so much good defending by us, but you can't knock their forward play.

"It was exceptional tonight."