ACCRINGTON Stanley owner Andy Holt believes the town is starting to throw its weight behind its football club.

The Wham Stadium welcomed its biggest crowd of the season to inspire the Reds to a fourth win from five in League One to launch them back into the play-off positions.

Game against Bradford City historically draw bigger attendances, with the Bantams often travelling in big numbers.

But Saturday was arguably the first time in 14 league and cup meetings with the Yorkshire side that Stanley fans have not been outnumbered by the away end.

Of the 3,346 crowd, there were 1,230 travelling Bradford fans occupying the Coppice End and half of the new Eric Whalley Stand.

That means there were over 2,000 more home fans backing Stanley fans to their fourth home win, in all competitions, this season.

Admittedly, the international break meant that neutral fans from Blackburn Rovers and Burnley, who were both without a game, could have used the free weekend to watch the Reds.

But with the maligned Checkatrade Trophy drawing a crowd of 900 the previous Tuesday - many of them youngsters - Holt believes the club's fanbase is growing in its own right.

"I'm really proud of what we're doing and I'm proud of Accrington buying into it now.

"I don't think it's a slow burner. The week before last we had 2,300 on, on a Tuesday night. When I started we had 800-900 on against Hartlepool.

"And to get 900 to watch Checkatrade, you can't argue with that.

"You build a business incrementally and we're building it, it's coming now.

"We've a long way to go but we're on a journey. I'm on a journey - I never even thought I'd be involved in a football club but I'm here. In any job I do I want to do a good job and the fans tell me if I'm not doing. They're the judge."

Holt has targeted the next generation of Accrington fans by handing out free shirts to every Year Three primary school child in Hyndburn earlier this year - a gesture which he intends to repeat next month and every year for the next five years.

"We're surrounded by kids, everywhere you look, and for me that's all that matters because in 10 years they'll be saying 'we've got a great fanbase at Accrington' and the work we're doing now will do that," he said.

"Ten years ago we let the work stop and we let it drop. We didn't do the work then, but we're doing it now and in 10 years it will pay off for us."

But as well as the work being done behind the scenes with the community, Holt knows how much success on the pitch entices supporters through the turnstiles, and he is thrilled with the way Stanley have taken to life in League One, sitting sixth with 23 points from 13 games.

"We're playing some great football," Holt continued. I don't think Saturday was our best football, we've played better than that this year and drawn.

"I'm excited.

"We're in the play-off spots, anything could happen."