JOHN Coleman is hoping to add to his Accrington Stanley squad before the rematch with Hull City on Tuesday.

The Reds boss has already secured the return of fans' favourite Gary Roberts, who launched his career by helping Stanley win the Conference title and get back to the Football League in 2006.

But after seeing Tommy Allan return to Newcastle after his loan spell, the hunt is on to boost the squad in the January transfer window.

Coleman has until 11pm on February 1 to finalise deals. But the Stanley manager is hoping to act sooner and have players in place ahead of their next game, against the Tigers, after a blank weekend.

"I'm still negotiating with players and hopefully I'll get two or three in the door before we play Hull again next Tuesday," said Coleman, who is keen to bounce back from defeat in their first trip to the KCOM Stadium in midweek.

The quick turnaround has been prompted by rearrangements following the postponements amid the club's coronavirus outbreak last year.

And Coleman feels it will be a test of his players' character.

"You go one of two ways, you curl up in a ball in the corner and sulk or you come out fighting. Thankfully we've got a chance to play them next week and we'll give it our best shot," said the Reds boss.

"We've had all the bouquets thrown to us so we have to deal with the bad times as well as the good times.

"We've got to work hard. We've got to work hard in training and we've got to work hard in games.

"We've got to put on a better performance than we did (on Tuesday night), particularly in the first half. In the second half a lot of things went on that take the game away from you, but the damage is done in the first half.

"Lots of times the first goal generally dictates the way the game is going to go and we gave it up too soft, I think anyway.

"We've got to be better, we've got to be more attacking."