JOHN Coleman knows the sending off in Accrington Stanley's 7-1 win over Bolton Wanderers was the turning point and that is why the Reds boss is not getting carried away.

Stanley were a goal down when Josh Earl was shown a red card for pulling down Dion Charles inside the penalty area in the 14th minute on Saturday.

Coleman was pleased with the hunger his players showed in the match to go on and get more goals even when the game was won.

"Ironically before the sending off we should have scored three and then the sending off puts a different slant on the game, we’re not getting carried away with that," said Coleman.

"I said all along that if we got one then we’d get two, I didn’t think we’d get seven. It’s testament to the hunger the players showed in the second half.

"They could have easily coasted in the last 10 minutes, but they were hungry to try and score more goals. It’s been a problem, there’s no getting away from the fact they’re our first goals in five and a half games.

"The chances that we missed early on; you’re thinking we won’t score again. In the past it might have got us down. Obviously the sending off helps and Colby’s coolly slotted the penalty. "I don’t think you can fault us for effort today. We won’t get carried away and we know we can set our standards higher than what we have been showing the previous couple of weeks."

The sending off of Preston North End loanee Earl was a contentious one

"They’re ones that by the letter of the law are right. Has he made an attempt to get the ball? No. Is he going to be shooting from 12-yards? Yes," added Coleman.

"You don’t often see them given, to be fair. We’ve had loads of bad luck this season, so you possibly need that little bit to give you the catalyst to go forward.

"Last year we went through a horrific period where we couldn’t score and then we got a penalty at Sunderland and scored and then we quickly followed that up with a great goal. "We know we can play football; we know we can create chances; it wasn’t a problem finishing them. Let’s hope that next week is the same and the week after that.

"We can’t have little brief interludes in this league, we’ve got to keep going."

It took the Reds 10 minutes to pull level at the Wham Stadium, but they could have equalised moments before that as Colby Bishop put a free header from inside the area wide.

Despite scoring seven goals, Coleman highlighted the chances his side missed in the match.

"I could see the hunger in the players eyes in training all week and you could see by the way they responded. We should have gone straight up and equalised," the Stanley boss said.

"Colby’s missed a sitter with the header, Jordan Clark’s had a shot that’s blocked. We’ve squirmed one wide. We’ve scored and then Ross misses a sitter. The lads stuck to the task and they were hungry.

"At times you could’ve sworn there were three Dion Charles’ on the pitch, he was everywhere. You couldn’t fault a player on the pitch."