ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman has told his players that there are still places in his side for the first League Two game of the season up for grabs.

A young Reds side were beaten 2-0 at Barrow on Tuesday night in their latest pre-season friendly, and they face Halifax on Saturday before opening their league season against Doncaster a week later.

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Elliot Parish, Rommy Boco and Bastien Hery were the most experienced players for Stanley in Cumbria, with the rest of Coleman’s squad featuring in a training game against Blackburn earlier in the day.

And with the start of the season now just over a week away, the Wham Stadium chief revealed he had not made his mind up on selection just yet.

“Nothing’s decided,” he said. “There are still opportunities in training and the games we have coming up for players to force themselves to the front and get themselves a start against Doncaster.

“Bastian Hery looked excellent, as did Rommy Boco and Nathan Webb looked excellent at times. We need more of a cutting edge but I thought we were a threat at times tonight and made good chances.”

Despite the defeat to non-league opponents Coleman was happy to see his improve after the break.

“I thought it was an even game in the first half but we went in 2-0 because they defended better than us,” he said. “We had a few harsh words about our defending as an 11 at half-time and we did improve in the second half when they didn’t lay a glove on us.

“We should’ve had a couple of penalties in that second half and hit the bar, so we could’ve won the game let alone drawn it.

“I’m not going to say that we like losing because we don’t, but there were a lot of young lads out there and I think they acquitted themselves well particularly in the second half. We had a training game at Blackburn in the afternoon so we just wanted as many players as possible to get as much game time as possible.

“In that respect it was mission accomplished.

“We have to learn and we certainly did that defensively in the second half.

“It’s a good education for the young lads and that’s what we have to take out of it.”