JOHN Coleman feels his players could have had a timely reality check in their quest for the League Two title.

A first defeat in 16 games means Accrington Stanley must now wait until Saturday at the earliest to see if their promotion party can be turned into a celebration of champions.

Six points ahead of second placed Luton Town, and with just six to play for, a point from their remaining two games would be enough to secure top spot, providing the Hatters get maximum points from theirs.

But Coleman warned they will have to perform better than their below par efforts in Tuesday night’s 2-1 defeat at Newport County if they are to achieve their goal.

“They’ve had bouquets thrown at them non-stop so maybe it will do them good to have a brick bat thrown against them now and again,” said the Stanley boss.

“They didn’t perform as well as they could (at Newport), they let themselves down by their own standards.

“I think we’ve conceded five in 13 before Tuesday, so to concede two and defend as poorly as we did as a team it takes a lot of swallowing to be honest. But we’ve got to pick ourselves up. We’ve got a massive game on Saturday and we’ve got to do our best.”

Although a point would put Stanley out of Luton’s reach, Coleman added: “We won’t be trying to draw it, that’s for sure, we’ll be trying to win it.”

And the Stanley boss said he will be focusing on the positives.

“You sometimes have to take stock of yourself and be a bit sensible,” he said.

“We’ve been on a magnificent run so you can’t get too down. We’ve defended magnificently for the previous 15 games.”