WHILE the world cried “Happy New Year”, Sean McConville was celebrating a happy - and nappy - end to 2017.

Accrington Stanley’s stand-in captain welcomed his third child into the world on Friday night. Twenty four hours later he was celebrating the end of the Reds’ five-game losing streak, after scoring the second of Stanley’s three goals without reply against Grimsby – a timely boost ahead of this afternoon’s visit of rivals Morecambe.

“It’s been an emotional 24 hours. My third baby was born (on Friday) - a little lad - and we managed to top it off with a great win,” said midfield man McConville.

“It’s been unbelievable really, a feeling that I will probably never go through again.

“The baby was born about 10 to five (at night) and I left the hospital about 10 o’clock, so it was all really good timing. I got some sleep and prepared for the game as normal and I knew that something might just drop for me.

“I thought I should have scored in the first half but then in the second half I’ve won the penalty and then managed to get my head on one to score the second.”

Headed goals had not been part of McConville’s game until this season.

He is pleased to have added another string to his bow when Stanley have needed it the most to arrest a dip in form.

“I don’t think that I’ve scored any (headers) in my career before this season and now two of my last three have been with my head,” he told the club’s official website.

“People have questioned us during this run that we’ve been on and we’ve probably questioned ourselves.

“But we’ve shown that we do have the character, to come to Grimsby and win 3-0 and be comfortable just shows the characters and the ability in this squad.

“Now we have to focus on getting it like that week in, week out again.”

McConville and co will hope to pick up where they left off against Morecambe this afternoon (kick-off 3pm).

“We’ve got to kick on now,” said Stanley’s assistant manager, Jimmy Bell. “We’ve got to get back in that top three.

“We know we’ve let ourselves down, and the fans, on our away performances and hopefully that’s the start of something big for us.

“We’ve been on a poor run of late but we had to turn the corner sooner or later because we’re a good team.

“We grew in confidence as the game went on and I thought we deserved it in the end.”

Of the goals, and scorers, Bell added: “It’s great for Sean, his girlfriend had a baby (on Friday night) so that caps a great week for him.

“Kayden (Jackson) needed that goal, against his old club as well. It will do him the world of good.

“And Billy (Kee) has tucked his penalty away again - that’s three in three for him, so it’s great for the forwards.”