JOHN Coleman can't wait to get back into the swing of a proper football season - because he misses the stress of games that matter.

The Reds go into their opening League Two fixtures against Doncaster Rovers at the Wham Stadium following a mixed pre-season schedule.

And Coleman, who starts his XX season alongside Jimmy Bell in the Stanley dugout, is raring to go and banish any memories of last season's play-off heartbreak.

"It’s good to start the season. The thrill and the tension of league games, you can’t beat it," he said.

"You probably miss the stress, where games matter. I know it’s daft, but you probably do.

"I just hope the players are looking forward to it as much as I am."

Coleman targeted automatic promotion before a ball was kicked last season, and his not changed his ambitions this time around.

"I want to try and get promoted," he said. "I wanted to try and get promoted last year.

"Any other year we would have got enough points to do that, but if we get 85 points again I would be pretty certain we’d be going up.

"So that’s got to be the aim.

"(Last season) still hurts - not so much after the Wimbledon game, I think the Stevenage game was a sickener.

"I joke about it but I actually did go home thinking about it yesterday.

"But the new season comes around quite quickly.

"I wouldn’t say we’re there yet, but we’re going in the right direction.

"We need to improve going forward, and that’s something we’ll work on in training,

"But we’ve got good players and we’ve just got to get them believing in themselves again."

Coleman has made a host of new signings and admits last season's achievements have made his job a bit easier.

But he will also rely on the spine of the side that has stayed, who he feels have proved that are ready to take the next step with the Reds.

He added: "We noticed that in the summer, that people were keen to join us on the basis of what they’d seen how we played last year and hopefully we can replicate this year.

"The people who are here from last year have got to use it to motivate themselves.

"We have still got good players here.

"We lost a lot of good players, there’s no getting away from that, but we have signed some good players and the players who remain from last year have certainly shown how capable they are and hopefully they’ll do it again."