ACCRINGTON Stanley avenged a 3-0 defeat by Colwyn Bay earlier in the season by inflicting the same scoreline on them at the Crown Ground in the UniBond Premier League.

It was the perfect warm up as the Reds prepare for their trip to Nigel Clough's table topping Burton Albion on Saturday.

Stanley have been finding their feet in the league in recent games and have now, after conceding a rush of goals at the start of the season, kept four clean sheets in their last six encounters.

And it was three goals of real quality which sent the Stanley fans home happy in a game in which they totally outplayed their Welsh opponents.

"You get more entertainment watching us than Manchester United!" joked manager John Coleman.

"I think some people were getting a bit edgey that we were creating chances and they weren't going in but we weren't.

"There was some great passing moves for all the goals and I knew they would come.

"It sets us up for the Burton game but at the end of the day, we are only playing for three points as we were last night."

The Reds attacked from the whistle with top scorer Paul Mullin and Lutel James combining well before the latter shot just wide.

Russell Payne made a mazy run but couldn't get a shot in as central defender Craig Hogg hacked the ball away off his toes.

Stanley forced all the early pressure with Mullin, Steve Flitcroft and Paul Haworth combining before Haworth whipped in a curling cross from the right that Hogg did well to clear under pressure from Simon Carden.

A Carden cross saw James hammer an 18 yard drive past the left post then Haworth curled another diagonal cross in from the right which was well caught by visiting goalkeeper Paul Smith.

Colwyn's first strike on goal came in the 20th minute when Craig Lawton hit a 25-yard shot that wasn't far wide of the mark.

But it was Stanley who seemed certain to make the breakthrough and Payne had the best chance of the half when he ran through the middle of the Colwyn defence and looked certain to score but hesitated and mis-hit his shot from 12 yards, central defender Mark Antrobus just managing to clear the ball at the last second.

Hit man Mullin then hit the woodwork - his shot rebounded off the inside of the far post before rebounding to safety - while soon after Mullin broke into the area from the left and crossed just out of reach of James as Stanley piled on the pressure.

And the Reds should have gone in at the break at least 1-0 up when Payne shot on the run, the ball rebounding off a defender to Mullin whose shot them came out for James to shoot but somehow Cross managed to clear the ball at the third attempt, the half ending at an unbelievable 0-0.

The second half saw Stanley start in the same vein, driving forward time and again, James shooting the wrong side of the right post after Robinson set him up after good work by Haworth.

With Stanley well on top it seemed only a matter of time before a goal came. On 55 minutes the ball came back off the Colwyn defence and Flitcroft hit a magnificent rising volley into the roof of the Colwyn net to give Smith no chance of saving the shot and Stanley a deserved lead.

It was the former Blackburn Rovers' Academy player's fifth goal for the Reds.

Three minutes later Robinson started a five-man move from the halfway line that Simon Carden drove into the bottom left hand corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area to double the scoreline.

Smith then made an excellent save from James when the front man cut in from the right and struck the ball well from 10 yards.

Brennan then killed the game off with a contender for goal of the season when he curled the ball from the left of goal 25 yards out into the top right hand corner of the net.

A goal from the minute it left the midfielder's boot coming on 85 minutes.

Stanley did have a scare in the 88th minute when a left sided corner from Limbert was headed goalwards but Stanley captain Peter Cavanagh cleared off the line ensuring the Stanley defence kept another clean sheet.

RESULT: ACCRINGTON STANLEY...3 COLWYN BAY...0