STANLEY underlined their need for a crowd boost as, on the day the club announced their new low season ticket prices, the Reds had the lowest attendance of their League Two lives.

Just 1033 braved the Tuesday night clash with bottom club Luton - lower than the 1056 who turned up to watch Stanley v Barnet in January.

And more than 100 of these were supporting the Hatters who were visiting the FES for the first time in recent years.

Manager John Coleman knows it is a "chicken and egg" scenario. They need to get the players to entertain the crowd - and grab vital goals and wins - but they also need the crowds to come in and generate money which they can spend on improving the players.

And while many fans may have thought staying away was the right move when they heard the result, manager Coleman was keen to concentrate on the positives.

Despite going five hours without scoring, the Reds boss is happy they have improved their dire home record from last season and have now gone six games without defeat at the FES - a statistic which could keep them in the division.

And Coleman believes that two clean sheets on the bounce - a rarity for the Reds in recent years - are a necessary piece of the jigsaw as he looks towards next season and what he hopes will be an improved position for his team.

Last season, the Reds conceded goals for fun and had the worst defensive record in the league. This season, the goals aren’t passing Kenny Arthur with the same regularity and the Reds boss is full of praise for the rearguard.

However he is the first to admit that the ‘goals for’ column has suffered in return. Stanley were also, last season, one of the top goalscorers and action was guaranteed - whichever goal was breached.

But this campaign, they share the dubious honour of being the side - along with Chester - who have scored the least league goals and Coleman knows things have to change.

"On the positive, it is two clean sheets in a row which is something we weren’t keeping last season," said the Reds boss.

"We have tightened the defence up but we just need to put it all together now.

"The goals aren’t going in for us at the moment. Paul Mullin has hit the bar for two games running and I really thought the one against Luton was in.

"We just need one to go in off someones backside and then hopefully the floodgates will open.

"I have been through a barren spell as a striker and it only makes you more determined. The good thing is the lads aren’t hiding. They are still going into the box right until the end - as showed in the final minute on Tuesday."

Then Craig Lindfield had a glorious chance to grab three points in injury time when Peter Cavanagh whipped in an accurate cross but the Liverpool loanee missed the opportunity at the far post.

However, if that had gone in, it would have been harsh on the bottom club who were deducted 30 points at the start of the season and are valiantly trying to claw their way back.

Their striker Tom Craddock was a real handful and it was a relief when lively winger Ian Henderson went off after the break as he caused problems for the Reds’ backline.

Stanley, meanwhile, had a fluid frontline with Paul Mullin joined by Sean McConville and Lindfield up front at times and John Miles swapped flanks as they looked to grab an elusive goal.

McConville, making his first league start since signing from Skelmersdale in January, did have a chance early on when he got on the end of a Miles’ ball in but he skied the effort from six yards out.

"He snatched it a little bit," admitted Coleman about the inexperienced winger.

Paul Mullin also headed over from a Cavanagh cross in the first half while the Reds’ top scorer also leapt to head a Miles' free kick after the break but, for the second game running, his effort crashed against the crossbar and out to safety.

Jimmy Ryan tried one of his trademark 30-yard thunderbolts which was just over the bar and, apart from Lindfield’s last ditch effort, these were the best Reds’ opportunities - and any one of them could have changed the game in the Reds’ favour.

But Stanley’s defence also lived dangerously having to make two desperate goalline clearances to keep their side in it.

On one, Rossi Jarvis fed Henderson and he chipped the outrushing Arthur with the ball heading for the back of the net but Stanley defender Kieran Charnock got back to clear the ball off the line.

And Sam Parkin's 30-yard lob - with Arthur stranded after denying Craddock - was hooked clear off the line by Phil Edwards.

Arthur also pulled off a stunning save with his legs after Craddock got the better of Edwards while the ex-Middlesbrough man Craddock, an £80,000 buy in January, again outwitted the defence but, from a tight angle, hit the far post and bounced out - much to the Reds relief.

It could have gone either way at the end although the Reds kept pressing and Lindfield's late miss summed up what has been a goal-shy season for the Reds.

But, it is one-time high fliers Luton who are in a much greater danger of non league football next season and their boss Mick Harford showed he admired Accrington, and their climb the other way.

"John Coleman has done something special here to bring them from non-league," said Harford. "You always know they will have spirit."

Now the club want the Reds fans to buy the season tickets and continue to make it special.