Stanley face nine huge games in a bid to secure their League One status for a second consecutive season.

Six of those are at the Wham Stadium, something on-loan midfielder Dan Barlaser feels the Reds have to take advantage of in their bid to beat the drop.

Stanley, who host Fleetwood Town this weekend, are 17th in what is a tightly packed bottom half of the table, with just five points separating third-bottom Rochdale with Oxford United in 13th.

John Coleman’s side are two points above Walsall, who occupy the final relegation spot, but with two games in hand over several of the sides above them, and sitting three points off the top half, their destiny is certainly in their own hands.

Five of Stanley’s next six games come at home, including fixtures against struggling Walsall and Rochdale, an opportunity Barlaser wants them to grasp.

“There’s nine games left to go and we’ve got some good home games coming up,” said the 22-year-old ahead of the visit of the Cod Army.

“I think all the home games we’ve got coming up are winnable, beginning with Fleetwood on Saturday.

“We played them away last year and should have won, so we know we can beat them.

“We’ve got a couple of teams coming up at home that are down there in the table, so these are vital games.

“If we can get another two or three wins under our belt I think we’ll be fine.”

Stanley are no strangers to a glut of home games in a row, having played four times at the Wham Stadium in the space of two weeks, collecting four points along the way.

With re-arranged fixtures against Sunderland and Rochdale to come next month, the initiative is there for Stanley to seize in a bid to put distance between themselves and the bottom four.

And the on-loan Newcastle man says they will be doing all they can to maintain their third tier status.

“We’re only two points above the relegation zone, with two games in hand, so we need to look at those games and take advantage of them,” Barlaser told the club website.

“It’s another two games where we can get more points than other teams.

“The gaffer spoke about it before, saying that good teams have gone down before, and we’re a good footballing team which we’ve shown this season.

“Obviously we definitely don’t want to go down, we don’t want that for the club or for the fans, and I know that we’ve got enough to stay up.

“We’ll look back at the Burton game, have a constructive talk about the things we didn’t do right, and we’ll take that into training for Saturday.”