ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman was disappointed with his side’s lack of killer instinct in their 3-2 defeat at home to Exeter City.

Goals from Liam Sercombe, Tom Nichols and Matt Grimes sentenced the Reds to just their second home defeat since Coleman returned as manager in mid-September. But the boss thought Stanley could have come away with more from the game.

MORE TOP STORIES:

“I do not think they deserved to beat us,” he said. “They have not been better than us on the night. They have played some pretty football but not really hurt us.

“We have created more chances than them. They have had four shots on our goal and scored three of them. They have been more ruthless than us and that is what won them the game.

“We will play a lot worse than that and win.”

Andy Procter, Matt Crooks and Luke Joyce all missed chances in the first half and Exeter made Stanley pay by opening the scoring in stoppage time through Sercombe’s stunning volley, leaving Coleman to cite the profligacy of his team as a contributing factor in the defeat.

He said: “For the chances we had, we have got to be winning these games. We have missed three before they have scored and on another night we would have got a penalty early on. I thought some of the football we played was good but some of our shooting was appalling — there was no conviction in it.

“It was a pity that we were wasteful in front of goal. We have got to work on being more ruthless.”

Although Coleman saw his side score two terrific goals, through John O’Sullivan and Shay McCartan, equally-fantastic goals from distance by Nichols and Grimes saw the Grecians claim their fifth win in seven visits to Lancashire.

On the back of the defeat, Stanley’s first at home in five matches, the Scouser demanded that his team show more adventure going forward and pepper the opposition goal rather than overplaying in the final third.

“We are looking to score the perfect goal at the moment and they do not always materialise,” he said. “If you go back to Piero Mingoia’s second goal last week against Cambridge United, it gets a deflection and goes in — and Shay McCartan scored a similar goal against Morecambe a couple of weeks ago.

“We seem to have a reluctance to shoot. We are not like Arsenal but for our good approach play we are often wasteful with our last pass or our shooting.”

The Reds had more than a quarter of an hour to get back on level terms after substitute McCartan dragged them back into the contest. Despite bombarding the penalty area, they could not breach a stubborn Exeter rearguard, which led Coleman to cut a frustrated figure after the match.

“They have got every man behind the ball and declared with 10 minutes to go — they took the strikers off and packed the defence and made it hard for us.

“If we had have taken one of the chances in the first half and taken the lead we would have won the game.”

The defeat leaves Stanley in 13th place in League Two, five points off the play-off places ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup second-round tie at home to Yeovil Town.