JOHN Coleman believes Accrington Stanley’s point at Stevenage could be crucial in the end-of-season shake-up after Billy Kee rescued a 1-1 draw with a late penalty.

The Reds are sixth heading into Boxing Day’s crunch clash at home to fellow promotion contenders Carlisle United and Coleman hopes the weekend point, picked up after an enforced two-week break due to the weather, shows his side’s resilience as they aim for a first promotion into the third tier.

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Stanley fell behind inside the opening minute and Coleman felt the two weeks between fixtures may have played a part in his side’s slow start.

“It shouldn’t, but I would be churlish to say it doesn’t,” said the Reds boss.

“We weren’t at our best in the first half. We were sloppy and only played in fits and starts.

“They had the adrenaline boost of scoring early on, but last year we lost here and in days gone by we might have lost here again.

“We might have felt sorry for ourselves and not rolled our sleeves up.”

The draw means Stanley have taken 36 points from their opening 20 League Two matches and can look forward to what promises to be an exciting second half of the season, which the Reds hope will lead to a promotion push in the New Year.

And midfielder Sean McConville, who won the penalty which secured Stanley a point, felt the Reds could have taken all three from their trip to Hertfordshire once they switched to 4-4-2.

“I think we could’ve gone on to win it,” he told Stanley’s official website. “We started sloppily and conceded early which should never happen.

“Then after a bit of scrappy first half we didn’t come out for the first 10 minutes of the second half but switched the formation got back into the game and got the goal.

“I thought if anyone was going to go on and win it then it would have been us.

“When goals go in that early I always think that it’s going to be a high scoring game.

“I’m always confident that we are going to score goals so I don’t think any of the lads let their heads drop.

“In the first half things weren’t falling for us but I think the pitches are turning now and we like to get the ball down and play but we have to know when to do that.

“We didn’t do that right in the first half even though we had a few chances, “I think Josh (Windass) went through and should have scored and Billy Kee had a chance and fell over but in the second half we approached the game better, with more energy and we deserved the equaliser.

“I thought Terry Gornell came on and was superb. Their centre backs were quite comfortable against one striker but when we got the two up front I thought the game swung in our favour.

“It’s a good point away from home if we beat Carlisle now.”