WHEN an old relationship is rekindled, it’s often not quite the same the second time round.

That’s certainly not the case with John Coleman and Accrington Stanley as the manager celebrated a year back in the job with the thrills and spills he’d asked for before their home game with Exeter City on Saturday.

The Reds ran out 4-2 winners having led 4-0 as they rolled back the years to Coleman’s first spell in charge with goals galore at the Wham Stadium.

Exeter arrived on the back of three straight wins and the first half an hour was closely fought with David Wheeler and Tom Nichols carving early chances for the visitors and Stanley’s Tom Davies denied a first goal for the club by goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik.

But things swung decisively in favour of the Reds in the 34th minute when Josh Windass scored twice in less than 60 seconds.

His first was a triumph of craft as Billy Kee, restored to the starting line-up, laid the ball off to Piero Mingoia who fizzed in a superb low cross for the former Huddersfield man to convert from the edge of the six-yard box. 1-0.

The second came direct from the restart and was a nightmare moment from Olejnik. He received the ball from defender Troy Brown and his attempted pass across the back four dropped straight to the boot of Windass. He needed no further invitation, smashing his effort into the top corner of the net to double Stanley’s advantage.

Now the Reds were rampant and Olejnik made amends with an astonishing save to deny Sean McConville a goal on his 100th Stanley appearance and keeping out a Windass drive that would have brought him a hat-trick.

Stanley were now in the driving seat and pressed home their advantage with a quickfire second-half sortie to stretch their lead to four.

Kee was involved in both, providing an assist for the third. His layoff teed up Mingoia inside the area and from a tight angle the winger powered home his first of the campaign to make it 3-0.

Then, a minute later, it was Kee’s turn to take centre stage as the striker latched onto a perfect through ball from McConville to keep his cool when one on one and slot in his second goal in as many games.

With the points now safe for the home team they took their foot off the gas and Paul Tisdale’s men tried to restore some respectability to the scoreline.

Fifteen minutes from time they ended Stanley’s run of four hours without conceding; sub Clinton Morrison received the ball inside the box from a throw and set up winger Lee Holmes to make it 4-1.

If that spoiled Coleman’s anniversary party then all festivities were cancelled when, despite Davies clearing off the line and Adam Buxton blocking a shot, substitute striker Joel Grant was still able to find the roof of the net to reduce the deficit to two and make stoppage time much more twitchy than it ever should have been.

A post-match dressing down from the boss may well have followed to show that love can be cruel, but on the evidence of this performance there’s still plenty of magic left in this relationship.