JOHN Coleman said he was happy to see Stanley secure their League One status ‘on our own steam’ following the superb 5-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle.

A Sean McConville hat-trick - which included a goal of the season contender according the Reds boss - a Billy Kee penalty and a Luke Armstrong goal made sure Stanley remain in the third tier of English football following promotion last season.

“It has been a long, hard slog and I am glad we have done it on our own steam,” said Coleman. “We haven’t relied on other teams and we have given the lads something to cheer about on the last day.

“We set ourselves high standards and we set ourselves high expectations and we put pressure on our ourselves and when we don’t live up to that, we are disappointed.

“We feel we could have played better at home this season but we have always given it our best shot you can’t fault our lads for effort.”

Coleman admitted Kee’s 20th minute penalty calmed nerves around the Wham Stadium after Plymouth - who have now slipped in to the bottom four - started the better of the two sides.

“Plymouth started the game brightly and pushed us back and we got our noses in front and then that relaxed us a bit,” said Coleman

“I think the win on Tuesday (at Doncaster) relaxed us as well to be honest and we played with freedom and we scored some terrific goals.

“When you are playing with that bit of a swagger and that is a sign that will bode well in the future.

“The lads are disappointed we conceded late on so they have lost the clean sheet and that is good, that is the high standards they set themselves.”

Coleman said McConville’s second goal and Stanley’s third was the best he has seen this season

“We have a goal of the season at the end of the season awards and that should be added in because that is clearly the goal of the season. It was fantastic,” he said.

Coleman added: “We just wanted more goals, full stop and that is the thing that has plagued us at home this season, we haven’t scored enough goals

“But Everything clicked. The defence defended stoically, the midfield battle well and made good decisions passed it when they passed it, helped it on when they had to help it on.

“The forwards were terrific’ worked hard, everything stuck with them and we took our chances.”

The victory sees Stanley move up to 13th place in the League One and Coleman admitted it has been a learning curve for everyone at the club but he said he will be ‘wiser’ for the experience.

“There is still a lot of hard work to do,” said Coleman.

“I’ll be wiser for having a year in League One, I will know what is required and the hard yards will be done during the summer and we have to try and assemble a squad good enough to challenge in this league.”