SEVEN points from the last three games should have been enough to put a smile back on all our faces, but the draw against league leaders Chesterfield on Monday felt like a defeat.

To only come away with a point after completely dominating for such long periods of the game and to be 2-0 up with less than 10 minutes to go was a bitter pill to swallow.

However, thanks to the packed fixture schedule we did not have to wait long for our spoonful of sugar.

Bury came to the Crown Ground on Saturday hoping to complete a double over the Reds this year and bring an end to their current bad run.

Their plans were scuppered by some hard graft by the Stanley players and some inspirational management decisions by John Coleman.

Yes, John proved again that he is indeed a football genius with the clever addition of Leam Richardson that snuffed out the midfield threat from Bury.

Then with the game looking like it was destined to end in stalemate, Coley shouted from the bench for Joe Jacobson to go up for a corner.

This change of routine worked and Joe ran in under the Bury defensive radar to score for the first time in over three years.

So that’s three games unbeaten, including two wins – not a bad start to the New Year for the Reds.

More to the point, we have been able to change our gameplan both prior to kick off to suit the conditions and during the 90 minutes to outwit the opposition.

Some of the changes were brought about by Ian Craney returning to Fleetwood.

Given his recent good form in a red shirt most Stanley fans would love to see him back at the Crown as a permanent fixture.