THE usual chant is "Just like watching Brazil" but John Coleman was happy his side played like Droylsden as they reached the Northern final of the GLS Conference Cup.

The Conference North side are known for their attacking prowess and have scored 55 goals in 32 league games.

And Coleman admitted he was pleased his side showed a similar attacking flair - although the three goals conceded against Conference strugglers Northwich did cause him something of a headache.

"It was a good game. It was like watching my current favourite team Droylsden because it is just attacking. I mean that sincerely, I love watching them," said the Reds chief.

But he didn't enjoy watching Stanley's horrendous start as they were 2-0 down within 11 minutes as two defensive errors were exploited by the resurgent Vics.

But Lee McEvilly scored one before half-time to get the Reds back in it before he scored a second, Paul Mullin got the third and loan signing Matt O'Neill celebrated his first goal in an Accrington shirt.

Johnny Allan made it 4-3 in the 84th minute to give the Reds a nervy finale but they now face Morecambe, Worskop or Stalybridge in the Northern final.

"We were caught cold, not for the first time this season, but thankfully we have not been punished," said the Reds chief.

"The first goal took a deflection and then they got a lucky second. We made a lot of chances in the first half and took one which was crucial.

"The turning point was Danny Alcock's save from Mark Quayle at 2-0. Danny has gifted them a goal but then bounced back well and made a save as 3-0 was probably a bridge too far.

"At 2-1 at half time, there was only going to be one winner."

The crowd had barely got seated before Northwich were in front. With just 58 second on the clock, the Stanley back line failed to clear a cross and it fell nicely for Chris Gahgan to tap home at the far post.

And goal number two came soon after when a Robbie Williams back pass to Alcock seemed inocuous enough but Mark Quayle pressed, Alcock slipped and the Vics striker casually walked the ball into the net to shock the Stanley faithful.

The game then went from end to end and the home side were cursing their luck when Vics keeper Andy Ralph did well to deny Paul Mullin from six yards out.

Stanley striker Mullin then had another go but volleyed over with the goal gaping while Alcock then made amends by pushing over unmarked Quayle's goalbound header - the turning point for the Reds' manager.

There was a couple of goalmouth scrambles in the next ten minutes but no one could get on the end of anything for the Reds while Northwich were restricted to long range efforts.

Ian Craney then had a shot deflected before, on 38 minutes, Stanley got one back. Steve Flitcroft's fierce effort was saved by Ralph before Mullin pounced but was denied and the ball came out to McEvilly who blasted home at the far post.

The players must have had another stern talking to at half-time by the manager but they responded well, with the introduction of substitute Rory Prendergast livening the game up.

There was a list of Stanley chances with Ged Brannan blasting over, Ralph diving low to deny McEvilly and O'Neill meandering his way into the area only for the Vics keeper to keep him out.

But they finally got the equaliser on 59 minutes when McEvilly again sprung the Vics off-side trap and his low shot was touched by Ralph but he could only guide it into the bottom corner of the net.

Stanley survived a hand-ball scare when Gahgan's free kick hit Prendergast and nothing was given but other than that, it was all Stanley pressure.

Craney fired wide after hard work by Mike Flynn while Prendergast found time and space on the wing to set up McEvilly but the two goal hero, six yards out, couldn't find the target this time.

The Stanley striker then went on one of his mazy runs and beat four players from the half-way line but the keeper saved it before Prendergast put the ball back in and Mullin was on hand to tap Stanley into the lead on 74 minutes.

Brannan almost made it four when he got in front of the defence but headed straight into the keeprs arms before O'Neill scored a superb solo goal. Ralph came out and missed the ball completely, O'Neill nipped in, got into the area and then finished well into the top corner through a crowd of bodies to give the Reds some breathing space.

But the jitters came back when Vics sub Johnny Allan finished off a well worked move by firing past Alcock from a tight angle on 84 minutes.

McEvilly could still have completed his hat-trick but Ralph pushed away his effort while Northwich could have taken the game into extra-time.

Captain Marc Foran headed over from a free kick with minutes left before, in the fifth minute of injury time, Gahgan got the ball at the far post around four yards out but he headed wide of the goal.

Despite the frantic end, Coleman admitted he got a lot of pleasure from the match - and his side's attacking show.

"It might be a brave man to play Matt (O'Neill), Rory and Ian Craney - three attacking midfielders out of four. It means the one who has to sit in will be doing a double shift but when they are going forward, we are hard to deal with," he said.

"Matt has done brilliant to finish the way he has. He had a good second half, where he ran at them and stretched them.

"And we have kept our unbeaten run going of 10 games without being as solid as we would have liked to be.

"We dealt with a couple of set backs, we haven't thrown the towel in and kept going. I am sure the crowd went home happy although I don't want the defence to concede three every week. Saying that, in the second half, apart from the goal, we defended really well."

He added: "Sometimes it is like scratching your head. They got two fortunate goals but you have to live with things like that.

"It is how you pick yourselves up, dust yourselves down and how you deal with it. And we dealt with it well against Northwich."

TEAM: Alcock, Cavanagh, Butler, Williams, Flynn, Flitcroft (Prendergast 53), O'Neill, Craney, Brannan (Cook 80), Mullin (Howarth 82), McEvilly. Subs not used: Kennedy, Smith.