ACCRINGTON Stanley manager John Coleman has urged his side not to get too carried away with their rapid climb up the Nationwide Conference.

The Reds jumped from eighth to third courtesy of Saturday's 5-0 win over struggling Northwich Victoria.

But on the back of their first win in over a month, boss Coleman stressed there was still plenty of work to be done before Stanley could consider themselves cemented in the play-off pack.

"Our performance against Leigh is the standard we can't fall down to just as much as our game against Northwich is the standard we've got to live up to," he said.

"We've not turned a corner by any means yet, but that's two consecutive clean sheets in the league, which is nice, and hopefully we can go on a little bit of a run now because I think we're more than good enough to be in the top five."

He added: "It was a relief just to win on Saturday to be honest. It was nice to send the fans home happy and to put on a display.

"Some of the football we played in the last 10 minutes when the game was won was frightening.

"We can do that, and we've done it in the past. But that's only down to the hard work that goes on before to earn the right to do that.

"And you've got to be careful that that only comes after the hard work and not before."

And the Stanley chief admitted he was taking some of the blame for a miserly October in which his side picked up only four points.

"I've got every belief in the squad and they know they've let themselves down," he said.

"I'm not beyond reproach in that. I think I've made a couple of selection mistakes.

"But, having said that, we're all learning and we're all only trying to do our best.

"I'm sure one thing about the set of lads here is that they won't get done for trying.

"Some of the work-rate might be misguided at times but they won't be done for lack of effort."

Now Coleman is looking to build on their haul of four points from two games ahead of Saturday's trip to leaders Barnet.

"Other teams have got a game in hand now but it's up to us to us to step on from here," the Stanley manager said.

"If we can go to Barnet and get a result it sets us up nicely.

"I know that, on our day, we're as good as anyone in the Conference and nothing will convince me otherwise."

The Reds boss also believes his side will grow in confidence thanks to two consecutive clean sheets after fielding an unchanged back four in the last three games.

"It's important that you don't switch off," he said.

"Once or twice you thought Northwich were going to get in but the lads stood firm and defended well.

"They were always on hand to make a tackle.

"The game was won but they've got their own pride to say, as a defender, it's a little feather in your cap if you can keep a clean sheet."

And Coleman praised midfield duo Andy Procter and Ged Brannan for their part in keeping Northwich at bay.

"I think if you count the tackles that Andy Procter and Ged Brannan won in the second half, I think you'd be into the 20s," he observed.

"That's what our game's all about - winning the ball high up the field and releasing the players who have got a bit of quality."