JUBILANT John Coleman said he could not praise his players enough for bringing the League Two title to Accrington Stanley.

The Reds were crowned champions after Jordan Clark secured a 1-0 win over Lincoln City in front of a packed Wham Stadium.

And after lifting the silverware – his fourth league title as Accrington boss – Coleman also paid tribute to Stanley supporters, saying: “Our fans were magnificent, they never stopped singing all the way through the game, and they deserve to have the party that they’re going to have tonight.”

Of securing the title with a game to spare, Coleman added: “It’s relief more than anything. We got ourselves into a position that if we didn’t do it you’d be kicking yourselves for the rest of time.

“We had the heartache two years ago here, in a home game.

“Everyone came in expectations then and everyone came in expectation today, and we’ve lived up to it.

“I can’t praise the players enough. They’ve been absolutely brilliant and worked themselves into the ground every single game we’ve played.

“We’ve not always played the best but you can’t fault their effort and their endeavour.

“Today they’ve chased every ball, they’ve headed it, they’ve kicked it, throwing their body in the way, made some great passages of play, created some good chances, scored a good goal and I think we thoroughly deserved to win the game.”

Coleman sat his players down on the first day of pre-season and said the target was to win promotion.

He admits they have gone one better with the title.

“It’s pleasing to be vindicated but what is most pleasing is watching other people take possession of my dream and make it their own dream, and believe,” he said.

“We started to believe very early, and that’s all down to the players.”