JOHN Coleman hailed Accrington Stanley striker Paul Mullin for casting away his side's doubts.

The Reds front man struck twice against promotion rivals Hereford United to end a run of four league games without a win.

And manager Coleman is confident Mullin's late winner will restore the players' self belief.

"It's a massive boost for us," he said.

"Maybe the lads were starting to doubt whether they were going to win again.

"I know as a player myself, sometimes you get that feeling.

"Certainly, as a goalscorer, if you go a few games without scoring you start doubting whether you're ever going to score again.

"We've got that win now and hopefully that will set us up for a good go on Saturday."

He added: "By his own admission, Paul's not the best finisher in the world, but he's very honest, works hard and gets himself into areas where he can score.

"I'm a firm believer that scoring goals is just luck and the more tickets you buy for the raffle, the more chance you've got of winning.

"That's what Paul's done.

"A lot of the time he's playing up front on his own, although last night we tried to give him another two and tried to go 4-3-3 and pin them back a bit."

Mullin took his tally for the season to eight, hitting the opener after just 42 seconds before the winner arrived on 87 minutes.

"It's a good time to score late on because there isn't much chance of them coming back," Coleman said.

"And you can't get a better start than the one we had.

"We had a lot of players who weren't fully fit but just kept going and kept ourselves on the front foot for long periods in the first half."

Coleman also singled out goalkeeper Danny Alcock for praise after an impressive debut.

The 20-year-old was thrust into the starting line-up after first choice stopper Jon Kennedy broke his leg in a training ground accident and didn't disappoint on his debut.

"Danny was steady," Coleman said.

"He made a good save early on, which I think gave him a bit of confidence.

"I never had any problems picking Danny and I wouldn't have any picking him again."

Ged Brannan could have been added to Stanley's casualty list after suffering a suspected broken hand in a first-half challenge last night.

The midfielder battled on until the 71st minute before being replaced by Paul Cook.

Jonathan Smith and Lee McEvilly also picked up knocks.

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