‘We’ve got to improve all over the park’ – Charlton’s next opponents get criticism from Accrington boss Coleman

Accrington Stanley manager John Coleman has described his side as “architects of their own downfall” as they gear up for Saturday’s home game against Charlton Athletic.

They Lancashire side lost 4-0 at Portsmouth last weekend despite their opponents being down to 10 men for much of the contest.

“No excuses, Portsmouth were better than us,” said Coleman. “They were far more clinical and took their chances.

“We’ve got this thing at the moment where we’re almost beating ourselves. We’ve got to improve all over the park. The first goal is cheap. They go down to 10 men and we knew we’re going to all the ball and then we concede from two set-plays – and we’re the second best defence for set-plays in the league.

“I don’t think we’ve conceded from one for about 12 games and then we concede two in one game against 10 men. You can’t legislate for that.

“We were so disjointed with our play. This is our third game playing away and we haven’t scored when we’ve had 68 shots in those games. If we’ve had 68 shots and not scored then you are doing something wrong. We had 25 today, only six on target.”

Accrington have taken 12 points from 17 away matches but are ninth in a league table for home results.

“We’ve got this thing hanging over us that we can only win at home and can’t win away from home,” said Coleman. “The stats back that up. But we’ve got to try and get away from that. We’ve got to stop being architects of our own downfall.

“We don’t seem to have that problem at home.”