Mark Hughes’ incredible run of league starts will come to an end tomorrow afternoon after Stanley lost their appeal against his red card in the FA Cup defeat to Crewe.

The central defender has started each of Stanley’s 108 league games but will miss the trip to Rotherham United through suspension.

Boss John Coleman revealed the club had appealed his second-half red card, only to see the decision upheld, with Hughes set to serve a one-match ban.

The 32-year-old’s absence is a big blow to Stanley at a time when they are also without on-loan West Ham defender Aji Alese who is away on international duty with England Under-19s.

Ross Sykes is available again after suspension, but left-back Zain Francis-Angol is out injured as the Reds boss weighs up his options.

“We appealed it and we lost. He will miss the game on Saturday,” Coleman said of Hughes’ red card.

“To play the game, every tackle you make now could be a yellow card.

“He’s a very good footballer and a very intelligent footballer and the fact he’s played so many games is testament to his ability but he does work on his fitness.

“By his own admission he’s not getting any younger but he does put the hard yards in to maintain he’s in the best possible condition he can be.

“It does give us a problem at centre-half.”

Hughes and Alese had started each of Stanley’s last four games together at centre-half, with Coleman admitting it will now open up the chance for another of his defensive options to stake their claim for a spot.

And the Reds boss is not asking for sympathy ahead of the trip to south Yorkshire.

“You’d like to think so,” he said.

“We will never subscribe to curling up in a ball and feeling sorry for ourselves mentality.

“We’ll go there all guns blazing and I’m sure whoever gets given a shirt will acquit themselves really well.”

Alese started for England against Luxembourg on Wednesday as they kicked off their UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying campaign with a 4-0 win.

The teenager will miss tomorrow’s game at Rotherham, with the Under-19s facing North Macedonia before a trip to face Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday.

It is a third successive call-up for Alese, who has played seven times for the Reds since signing in August.

“It’s something you have to deal with. It’s stop-start for the lad to be honest and I think if you gave him the choice of playing for England or Accrington this weekend to further his chance I think he’d choose Accrington every time,” Coleman added.

“But it’s not his choice. You don’t want to stop him.”