MARK Roberts insists Accrington Stanley will only be heading onwards and upwards by cutting out their silly defensive mistakes.

The Reds lifted themselves off the bottom of League Two last week with a thumping 4-1 victory over Grimsby.

And there is every chance that John Coleman's men will be nearer to the play-offs than the relegation zone by 5pm tomorrow if they can wrestle another three points away at in-form Shrewsbury.

The fact Stanley are just three points adrift of fourth-placed Peterborough - and five behind leaders Darlington - illustrates how congested the league table is after just five games.

Defender Roberts, who has been an ever-present in the Reds line-up since completing a summer switch from Northwich, admits Stanley are buoyant after finally ending a run of five straight league and cup defeats.

And the 23-year-old believes there is much more to come, especially if hard-working Accrington can sharpen up their act at the back.

"It was a huge result against Grimsby," said Roberts. "It was obviously needed after a few bad results.

"Winning was the most important thing after losing a few games on the spin.

"Losing - just like winning - can become a bit of a habit and we needed to get out of that quickly.

"We also played very well against Oldham (in the Johnstone's Paints Trophy), but we couldn't quite get the result.

"But we had a bad five minutes - myself included - where we let the game go out of our grasp.

"That was extremely disappointing, but we got over that. As far as I'm concerned, it was only going to be a matter of time before we picked up that win.

"It was also nice to score a few goals, that gives everyone a lift, especially the strikers."

Roberts added: "But we've got to look at keeping it a bit tighter at the back.

"We've been a bit disappointed with some of the goals we've conceded, which were mostly due to a lack of concentration.

"But we are working hard to put that right. It would be nice to put together a couple of clean sheets - that breeds confidence through the squad. And it means we'll pick up more points."

Stanley sunk to the foot of the table a fortnight ago after slipping to a 2-0 defeat at home to Peterborough.

But Roberts admits nobody at the Fraser Eagle Stadium was overly-concerned by the club's league position, especially just five games into the new season.

He said: "The league table does not really take shape until 10 or 12 games in, when you are a couple of months into the season, so we were never concerned about our league position.

"Obviously, being bottom is not a nice position to be.

"But we knew that if we could pick up a win, we could rocket up the table and that's exactly what happened after Grimsby.

"But we are looking forward now. We don't want to go backwards.

"A couple of wins takes you right up the table and everything looks good again."