Accrington are hoping they can keep hold of star striker Paul Mullin.

The club have spent the week in contract negotiations with the Reds’ hitman who has the record number of appearances for Stanley.

The long serving striker’s contract is up at the end of the season and League Two rivals Shrewsbury are one club continually linked to the 33-year-old and are believed to have made a sizeable offer for Mullin after the transfer window opened on Wednesday.

Stanley are trying to persuade the 11-goal hitman to see out the rest of his career at the FES and have the chance of a testimonial.

"We have had an offer made for him and we have offered him a new contract so that is where we are at the moment," said boss John Coleman.

"We have had enquiries for him over the years from Chester, Grimsby and Bury and we hope he stays. I do not want to see him go."

Meanwhile Coleman was keeping his fingers crossed a deal would go through for Ian Craney this week for an undisclosed fee.

As the Observer went to press, there were a few details to iron out but the midfielder wanted to make his loan move from Swansea permanent and Stanley were believed to have offered him a two-year deal

"We are just waiting to hear from Swansea now. It will be frustrating if it doesn’t go through before tomorrow’s game against Chester," said the Reds’ boss.

Centre half Sean Webb has also signed a deal until the end of the season while Sunderland winger Billy Dennehy has put pen to paper for another month.

And manager Coleman pulled off an early swoop welcoming back winger Andy Todd on loan from Rotherham for a month with a view to an end of season deal. He made a return in the New Year’s Day 2-0 loss to Bradford.

"It is nice to be back," said Todd. "I haven’t been playing much since October so I just want to play as much football as I can.

"When I heard Accrington were interested, because of the connection I had with the club, it would have been hard to turn down.

"And I got a great welcome from the players, the management and the fans.

"I have set a rod for my own back because I set a high standard last season when I played here and people are expecting the same straight away but I want to do that again too and I am up for the challenge. It is just great to put a kit on and be involved.

"I am grateful to Accrington for showing an interest and giving me another opportunity to play some games and I don’t want to waste it."

Coleman has said he is looking at a couple of defenders - and he was hopeful of signing one on loan yesterday ahead of the Chester clash.

And the Reds boss is praying his side will come up with the goods at home after they slipped to their eighth league defeat of the season at the FES against Bradford.

"It was a classic smash and grab raid and we missed a lot of chances and we have got to defend better than that," said Coleman, whose side remain in mid-table.

"I don’t mean to be disrespectful to Bradford but anyone who watched the game must think we are a better side than them but our passing was poor in the second half and we went asleep for the first goal.

"The home form is shocking in terms of defeats but we have won four and it is not all bad. But we have got to improve if we want people to come and watch us.

"We have got to start scoring goals and defending properly. All we can do is keep trying to get it right and pushing forward."

The away form is a different matter with Stanley winning two trips on their travels over Christmas. "We won three away games all last season and, this season, we have picked up 20 points on our travels," he continued.

"It is particularly frustrating as if we could have turned in any kind of decent home form we might be knocking around the play-offs.

"But there is a lot of points to play for between now and the end of the season and we would like to get to the 50 point mark as quick as we can so we won’t have to worry about the trap door."

Chester were up near the top early on in the season but have lost their last three matches. They have ex-Red Tony Grant in their squad but he is sidelined with a knee injury.


* Goalkeeping coach Ian Willcock has left Stanley with a replacement expected soon.