ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman believes the best is yet to come from striker Offrande Zanzala.

The 21-year-old earned a permanent move to the Reds after impressing during last season’s loan spell from Derby County.

During that time the youngster became a hit with fans for his wide smile and the way he celebrated with them after scoring his first Football League goal, from the penalty spot, in a 4-0 win over Wycombe on Stanley’s way to winning the title last season.

But Coleman has sensed frustration from the Reds faithful towards Zanzala in recent weeks and has encouraged them to see the positives in the professional and the person.

“Ossie (Zanzala) comes in for a bit of criticism from our fans and I just don’t see why,” said the Reds boss.

“He’s desperate for a goal and I see that but you can’t fault his work-rate, his effort. He’s technically a good player. He has shown that. He won the penalty (against Burton), nearly scored. He’s a handful.

“He ran Burton sideways, long ways, came in short. He’s only going to get better. I think the fans should get behind him.”

Zanzala missed a host of chances after starting in place of the injured Billy Kee in the previous home game against Scunthorpe, in which Stanley came back from behind to salvage a point.

The Reds were again trailing, at home to Burton, when Zanzala came off the bench to have an impact in the last half-hour - winning the penalty which Kee converted for the point, while he had another effort ruled out for offside and was denied a late winner by substitute goalkeeper Harry Campbell.

“Zanzala gets a bit of stick but he’s a game lad, works his socks off, a lovely character, and you can never fault his effort,” Coleman continued.

“I would just love him to get a goal. I think once he gets his first goal he will be off and running. He will be a handful.

“He just has to keep putting himself in there and he will get the goals.”

Meanwhile, Coleman was pleased that top scorer Kee added to his early season tally to secure the draw with Burton and extend their unbeaten run to six games, having been hampered by a foot injury since the summer.

“Billy Kee was a bit rusty. He hadn’t trained for a week,” the Stanley chief explained.

“We did think about taking him off with 20 minutes to go but we thought he might pose a threat if we kept him on. We went three at the back and put an extra striker on.

“Any tiredness with Billy dissipated and he had an impact on the game. You know what you get from Billy and there’s never going to be a problem with a penalty,” added Coleman.