JOHN Coleman was happy to see Accrington Stanley’s football do the talking, after swapping a training session for a dressing room heart-to-heart.

Four defeats on the spin had left the Reds boss scratching his head, after admitting he had not seen much wrong with performances in that spell.

Which is why he opted for talking rather than training in the run-up to Saturday’s long trip to Plymouth.

And the radical move paid dividends with Stanley returning to East Lancashire with a 3-0 win, which put them back in League One’s top 10 in time for Christmas.

“We didn’t train on Thursday, we decided that we’d be better off talking it through with the players, so we sat down and had a very frank and open discussion. We heard what the players had to think and we gave them our thoughts as well,” Coleman explained.

“We said we had to re-set and re-focus and come up with a way of winning games because our form in the last seven games has been quite good, we just haven’t been able to convert it into results so we had to be more determined to keep a clean sheet. We had to show more effort and more determination to keep a clean sheet. We had to show more effort and more care and spot danger a bit better and I thought we did.

“There were some great blocks, the keeper has made a couple of great saves and then we had the composure to be able to play out and counter on them when we did take the lead and ultimately that’s what won us the game because we were able to score again.”

After a goalless first half summer signing Sam Finley’s first league goal got the crucial breakthrough just after the hour.

The former AFC Fylde midfielder’s header was followed up quickly by Sean McConville adding his eighth of the season to double Stanley’s advantage, before winger Jordan Clark wrapped up the three points following good work by Billy Kee in the build-up.

Coleman added: “I’ve got to take my hat off to Plymouth, they made it an entertaining game. I think it was a great advert for League One football – some wonderful passing, dribbling, shots, saves, blocks, whole-hearted passion.

“It wasn’t just Accrington that were on the pitch today, Plymouth were there as well. They made our keeper make a couple of really good saves and had a block on the line straight after half-time when they ramped up the pressure. So I think the game was always going to be decided by the opening goal and thankfully we got it.”

Meanwhile, midfielder Seamus Conneely was restored to the starting line-up in favour of striker Offrande Zanzala at Plymouth. And Coleman was pleased with the impact his captain made after an injury-hit campaign so far.

“We thought that if we could contain Plymouth by controlling possession we’d have a better chance of keeping a clean sheet and we felt as though we had the firepower to score, and then that would lead to us winning the game,” said the Stanley boss.