STANLEY had gone seven hours and 40 minutes without conceding a Conference goal so to throw it all away in stoppage time against Leigh RMI left manager John Coleman fuming.
Despite the Reds chalking up their sixth win in eight outings, Coleman could not hide his fury at the Reds late capitulation.
"It's an absolute sickener that you work so hard for four games to keep a clean sheet and you give it up in the last 10 seconds like that. It's a joke," slammed the boss.
"I can't remember an Accrington team under me playing as bad in the last 15 minutes as we did.
"There was only token resistance, there was nothing there and it was embarrassing.
"We got 2-0 up and then we clocked off. It is not acceptable."
Stanley had seemed to be cruising despite not serving up their best football for a disappointing crowd of 1,507.
They struggled to get the fluency of recent games but did grind out a number of goal-scoring opportunities which Lee McEvilly capitalised on to get off the mark for the season.
He opened the scoring on 17 minutes when Ian Craney won a free kick on the edge of the area. Ged Brannan played it short and McEvilly fired the ball through a crowd of players low into the bottom corner of the net.
And they scored a vital second on the hour when a Rory Prendergast corner was headed home by the former Rochdale man - although Leigh appealed for a foul on their keeper.
Stanley had other opportunities - including a header against the crossbar by Paul Mullin - and seemed in control until they allowed Leigh time and space to get back into the game.
In a nervy finale, Gareth Stoker belted the ball against the crossbar and unmarked Barry Miller fired unbelievably straight at Kennedy from six yards out.
And then came the goal, with seconds to spare. Michael Byrne tried his luck from 20 yards out and it tucked beyond the diving Kennedy.
Coleman continued: "I was disappointed with the crowd but if we are going to turn in what I call dross like that then I wouldn't come.
"That is not saying I don't want them to come because as good as we were last last, we were as bad this week.
"We just huffed and puffed.
"The only saving grace is that we have got three points. We were lack lustre and I don't know if we thought Leigh were a pushover but they showed as much spirit as anyone else who has come here.
"If you think games are won before you start, that is how you lose games. Our closing down was virtually non existent and that is what we are good at.
"The back four did okay but the only consistent player on the pitch was Steve Jagielka. He has had to carry the midfield again. It is totally unacceptable. It was rubbish."
The players were called in for training on Sunday and were shown a video of the match.
"We need to look at where we went wrong and the areas we can improve on because it is not good enough," concluded Coleman.
- FORMER Stanley striker Gary Williams was injured and couldn't play for his new club Leigh on Saturday.
