MANAGER John Coleman has hailed Sean McConville’s impact at Stanley after the midfielder took his tally to 10 goals for the season in the weekend win over Stevenage.

For the second home game in succession the 28-year-old netted a brace to help the Reds recover from two goals down to earn a 3-2 win.

The three points mean Stanley will move into the top three in League Two should they beat promotion rivals Swindon Town in the sole fixture in the division tonight.

And ahead of the Wham Stadium clash, Coleman said McConville is following in the footsteps of Shay McCartan and Josh Windass as an inspirational leader at the club.

McCartan scored 11 goals in the second half of last season before joining Bradford City while Windass hit 17 when the Reds were beaten in the play-offs in 2015-16 before departing for Rangers.

Coleman said: “I think Sean is in that mode at the moment where his confidence couldn’t be higher.

“Similar to the situation with Shay McCartan last year when he is standing over a free kick you fancy him to score. You wouldn’t want anyone else taking the free kick because his confidence is really high.

“I think Josh Windass got into that zone when he played for us and those players can drag you back into a game.”

And Coleman believes McConville, who has made more than 200 appearances for the Reds over two spells at the club, can lay claim to being the best Stanley player of the club’s Football League era.

“I had a conversation with Peter Murphy (former Stanley player) about Sean and he said he was Accrington’s best player in the football league.

“If you think about it and you strip it back then logically he has got to be up there because he has continually performed, I can’t remember him having a bad season for us.”

McConville is closing in on his best goal return for a season, having netted 13 in 2010-11 when Stanley lost in the play-off semi-finals, and Coleman has been pleased with his player’s predatory instincts this term.

“Goals is one thing he did have to add to his game,” said the Accrington chief. “Sean is a good finisher and the year that we just missed out, he missed lots of chances in that season and he is taking a higher proportion of them now.”

Stanley could welcome back midfielder Jordan Clark for tonight’s clash after he missed the win over Stevenage while Seamus Conneely will be pushing for a return to the starting XI after being an unused sub at the weekend.