ACCRINGTON Stanley manager John Coleman insists his squad will not ‘hide in a corner and cry’ as they were beaten 5-2 away at Burton Albion.

Billy Kee and Sean McConville put the Reds 2-0 up before Burton halved the deficit just before the break.

Stanley conceded four goals in the second half to stay two points clear of the relegation zone.

“The first thing I have to do is show them where they’ve gone wrong,” said Coleman.

“We’ll come up with a plan to try and win the game next Saturday.

“We’re not going to hide in a corner and cry and say, ‘that’s it, our season’s over’.

“We’ve been beaten by a better team.

“There’s been times when we’ve been the better team this season, we’ve got to believe that we can go again, and we can get back to that form.”

Coleman knows it’s a problem how easily teams are scoring against his side.

“They could’ve scored more than five today, that’s for sure,” added Coleman.

“We were too open in the first half, so we altered our system and we got our goals.

“Apart from Billy’s header that the keeper’s tipped over the bar at 2-2, we didn’t have a chance.

“Our heads went down when they made it 3-2 and 4-2, it was over.

“I haven’t seen my team capitulate like that today.”

Coleman said his side were ‘completed and comprehensively’ out-played and said that play-off chasing Burton were worthy of the one-side victory.

“Burton fully deserved it, I think the five flattered us a bit,” he said. “Certainly going in 2-1 up and half time flattered us, they were the better team in the first half and they were better than us in the second half.

“Disappointed that we conceded the way we did just on half time. I think their team talk would have been a bit different.

“It is very, very rare that I say that we get completed and comprehensively out-played but today was one of them days.”

Coleman said there were no excuses for his team’s performance and said the Reds were now in a relegation scrap.

“You can’t put your finger on it why,” said Coleman. “If you are looking to grasp at straws, you might think that we haven’t played for two weeks so maybe that is the reason we looked a bit rusty.

“We looked devoid of energy, they ran all over us in the last half an hour, they were closing us down in the last minute when they were 5-2 up, taking the ball off us at will.

“We were very poor in possession, we gave the ball away time and time again and it cost us.”

He added: “We have got to improve, we have got a log hard slog, we have got nine games left and we have got to find some wins.

“We are very much in a relegation scrap and we have got to try and get out of it.”