John Coleman full of praise for Stanley debutant Lacey

(Picture: Action Images)

Accrington chief John Coleman praised Paddy Lacey after the midfielder’s match-winning debut against Portsmouth on Saturday.

The 23-year-old, who joined the club in the summer after being released by Barrow, had to wait patiently to make his Stanley debut, but finally did so on Saturday and scored a sumptuous winner from 25-yards.

Lacey’s performance, and the way he has conducted himself since joining Coleman’s League Two side, earned praise from his manager who said: “We need players who are ready to go and who are primed that when they are called upon they can go straight in and compete.

“Paddy has worked hard in training and kept himself in tip top condition and that is a lesson to the other lads who are out of the side at the moment.

“It was a great goal, to be fair to Paddy he is always capable of doing that, it was a not a shock to us. It was a goal worthy of winning any game.”

The match, between two of last season season’s play-off semi-finalists, was a very close game with few chances for either side, and despite Lacey’s wonder goal, Coleman thought it could have gone either way.

He said: “I think we gave them a bit too much respect in the first half, our players were more concerned about keeping them out rather than breaking them down and, once we reminded them of that, in the second half we were a lot more positive.

“It was two teams cancelling each other out and it was going to take a moment of magic and thankfully that moment of magic came from us and not them.”