BEFORE their trip to Carlisle United Accrington Stanley manager John Coleman predicted that it would be their toughest game of the season, with United goalkeeper Dan Hanford professing himself confident of three points for the home side.

The 90 minutes at Brunton Park would prove both right as Stanley laboured to a 1-0 defeat and the end of their four match unbeaten run.

Coleman made four changes from the FA Cup draw at Notts County, with John O’Sullivan and Sean Maguire amongst those returning, but it was the Cumbrians who started brightest to make a mockery of their recent league struggles.

MORE TOP STORIES:

As early as the third minute Stanley goalkeeper Jack Rose was called into action as he parried a strike from Derek Asamoah behind for a corner before defender Courtney Meppen-Walter guided a header wide.

Asamoah seemed to be the danger man for the hosts with only the offside flag and a series of wayward finishes preventing him from getting onto the scoresheet.

That changed with 20 minutes gone as the Ghanaian striker latched onto a low through ball and saw the flag stay down. One on one with Rose he made no mistake, slotting his fourth goal in five games with a cool finish into the bottom left corner.

Only the shock of conceding seemed to get the Reds playing with O’Sullivan the catalyst. The Irishman crossed for Rob Atkinson to head over before making a driving run into Carlisle territory and beating Hanford only for his shot to slide wide, though many inside the ground thought that it was in.

O’Sullivan then picked out Shay McCartan in the area instead of Kal Naismith and the Northern Irishman lashed a shot into the side netting before the combination was repeated with McCartan firing over.

Sadly for Stanley the Blackburn loanee was the subject of rough treatment from the Carlisle defence all afternoon and his effectiveness began to diminish as the game wore on.

The second half started in similar fashion to the first, with the impressive Kyle Dempsey racing goalwards and inexplicably missing the target with his shot before Rose denied Danny Kearns.

Carlisle had lost their last four games and nerves were to be expected but Stanley couldn’t capitalise. The introduction of James Gray added presence up front but there was still very little cutting edge.

In fact the super confident Hanford was only truly tested once; O’Sullivan’s cross from the left meeting the head of Maguire, forcing the goalkeeper the shovel the ball behind for a corner.

In the dying stages it should have been the visitors piling on the pressure but in truth Keith Curle’s side finished strongest. Rose made a point blank save to deny sub Steven Rigg before thwarting the same player in style after a stoppage time counter attack.

The five added minutes only served to allow the West Brom loanee to underline his impressive pedigree as he turned over a strike from David Amoo to keep the score respectable.

As predicted it had been a tough day for the Reds who failed to score in a league game for the first time since Coleman’s return.