ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman insists his side’s priority next season must be to stay in League Two, despite coming so close to promotion this year.

The Reds missed out on automatic promotion on the final day of the campaign when they failed to beat Stevenage.

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That allowed Oxford United and Bristol Rovers, who secured a dramatic last-minute victory, to leapfrog the Reds and push them into the play-offs.

And Coleman’s side were then beaten by AFC Wimbledon in the semi-finals after an extra time goal in a 2-2 Wham Stadium draw secured the Dons a 3-2 aggregate win and a place in next Monday’s Wembley final against Plymouth Argyle.

Stanley finished this season with 85 points – a club record high in the Football League – but Coleman believes that will count for little come August.

“We won’t be the surprise package next year so the first mission here has to be to stay up,” said the Reds boss.

“And there’s plenty of teams who have dropped out of the League who have found it an absolute nightmare to get back in, so we don’t want to be in that boat.”

Coleman also admitted he would be using the summer to work on his own managerial skills in the wake of the play-off heartache.

“I’ve got to look at myself,” said the Stanley boss, speaking after the defeat to Wimbledon last Wednesday.

“Instead of blaming referees and pitches and decisions and players, you’ve got to look at what you can do, and how I can improve.

“Unfortunately I’ve had a couple of big games recently in my life, in the last three or four years, ironically most of them at home, and I haven’t been able to get the team over the line.

“So I need to look at what I can do differently and look to myself for the answers, not to look to blame anybody else.”

The Reds boss admitted he wanted to come back stronger in pre-season and use the pain of missing out on a place in League One this time around as motivation for more success in the future.

Coleman added: “It’s a time for me to have a bit of reflection over the summer and think about how I get us over the line next time around.

“The experience is hurtful at the moment but I’ll try and use the time to fire us to better things next year.”

The Reds will now lose midfielder Matt Crooks and forward Josh Windass to Scottish giants Rangers after the pair signed pre-contract deals with the Ibrox club, who are back in the top flight, earlier this year.