Stanley boss John Coleman had no complaints about his side’s 4-1 defeat at Bristol Rovers.

Luke Leahy and Alex Rodman scored before the break with Sam Nicholson and Zain Westbrooke on target in the second half to wrap up the points for Joey Barton’s hosts.

Paul Smyth scored a consolation for Accrington after 77 minutes and Coleman conceded he would have been moved to apologise to any travelling fans had they been present.

“We didn’t deserve anything from the game and the better side won,” the Reds boss said.

“We won’t be bawling and shrieking about it because the lads didn’t set out to play poorly. There was no shortage of effort, but the application wasn’t there.

“All credit to Rovers, who played very well. You get nights like this in football and the important thing is how you respond.

“We will look at the game and analyse what we did wrong. But there is a long way to go in the season and we have to put this match behind us quickly.

“I think that is 7-5 to us on aggregate over the two games with Rovers this season. We didn’t get carried away by our 6-1 home win and we won’t get too down about tonight.

“Sometimes you can’t put your finger on why a performance is poor. But if our fans were here I would be apologising to them because it wasn’t good enough.”