JOHN Coleman will spend the summer fuming over Accrington Stanley not finishing in the top three - even if his team win the play-offs at Wembley.

The Reds manager insists his side was one of the best in League Two and admits he's on a 'downer' after they failed to beat Stevenage while their rivals prospered.

He will put that disappointment to one side for the play-offs, but says the sting of hurt will take a lot longer than a few weeks to wear off.

"I won't get over that, even if we win at Wembley," he said.

"Going to Wembley won't make up for it for me. It might for the players and it might for the fans, but it won't for me.

"I firmly believe we were in the top three teams in the league and we've haven't done ourselves justice. Going up in the play-offs won't be doing ourselves justice.

"People might think I'm being negative with it and on a downer, and I am on a downer, but when it comes to playing football matches I love it.

"So I'm actually getting another drug for another couple of weeks, because that's what I feed off - football matches. That's what gets my adrenaline kicking in.

"But I know we were good enough and nothing will change that. I can't lie and say it's all going to be rosy. I'm still hurting.

"The one thing we have got is a chance to take away most of the pain from what happened on Saturday.

"Only your personal pride that we should have finished third, or second, will still be there.

"But we've got a marvellous opportunity to give our fans what they've started to crave. We've started to introduce them to that and got them hooked.

"They're craving League One football, and so they should."

Coleman accepts his side weren't good enough against Stevenage, despite hitting the woodwork three times.

The boss said: "I always thought we were capable of scoring and the fact we created chances later on is testament to that.

"But it wasn't to be and sometimes you think it's fate.

"When your fate is in your own hands you've got to do as much as you can to make sure it goes your way and, truth be know, we didn't do enough on Saturday."