STANLEY’S loan striker Gregg Blundell is still in the bad books with his girlfriend - but he will be in John Coleman’s good books if he starts scoring goals.

The Darlington hitman had to cancel a trip to Paris with his girlfriend to link up with the Reds last week after Coleman signed him on loan deadline day.

But he is hoping to repay the Stanley manager’s faith in him by scoring goals in his month at the FES - which could turn into a permanent deal.

"I am still in trouble," said the 31-year-old this week. "Darlington, as we were out of the FA Cup, had given us four days off - that had never happened in my football life - so we booked to go to Paris.

"We were about to set off on Thursday - a couple of hours later and my phone would have been turned off - then I got a phone call to say I was coming on loan to Accrington. I am in the bad books at home but it is one of those things that happens and all part of the job. It is just my luck though!"

Not that he minds being at Accrington - and he wants it to be a big success.

"At Darlington, I was always on the bench and I have appeared every game but one this season but was just getting maybe 10 minutes or at the most 30 minutes.

"I want to get more football under my belt and this is a great oportunity for me.

"I had a couple of chances against Bury on Saturday that I should have put away and hopefully over the next week or so I will get sharper.

"I hope tomorrow I will be more into match mode and keep banging them away - and not into the crowd as I did last week!

"But the main thing to me is to be part of a successful team. I want to come here and help Accrington win.

"I felt we were unlucky on Saturday and now I want to put that behind me and hopefully have a good set of results from now until my loan period is up. At the moment I am here for a month but you never know what can happen."

The former Northwich and Chester frontman is also hoping he can form a strong partnership with Paul Mullin, building on it against Brentford tomorrow.

"Whenever I have played against Paul he has always been a handful.

"He is ideal for me to play alongside as he holds the ball up well and is good in the air. I thought we had started to develop an understanding against Bury - there was some good link up play - and the longer we play together hopefully the better it will get.

"I enjoyed the atmosphere on Saturday at Accrington as well.

"At Darlington, it is a huge stadium with around 3,000 people in whereas at Accrington, the crowd is a bit smaller but it is tightly packed and it makes for a good atmosphere."

And, being a Liverpudlian, he has settled in with the rest of the Stanley players.

"They seem a good set of lads and it is nice for me to move closer to home.

"I had a good chat with the gaffer and he wants me to come for a month and then take it from there and I am happy with that."

It will be hoped tomorrow’s clash with Brentford gets the go-ahead as last year the game at Accrington was only called off around an hour before kick off due to a waterlogged pitch and the Bees fans were unhappy.

"It would be just my luck that the game won’t be on and I could have taken her to Paris this weekend!" Blundell added.

Manager Coleman also signed Wigan striker Craig Mahon on loan and the 19-year-old featured in the 2-1 loss to Bury, coming off the bench.

"The more Craig plays, the better he will get but he showed some good touches on Saturday," said the Reds chief. "I have chased Gregg for a while. He hasn’t played a lot but he is a good player and I brought him to link up with Paul Mullin.

"Brentford are a very good side - I have seen them twice this season and they will be a threat."


* ROSTYN Griffiths plays the last match of his three month loan spell with the Reds tomorrow - but Stanley are hoping the Blackburn Rovers midfielder will be back.

"We have had talks about bringing him back in January," said Coleman. "He has done really well since he has been here. He is a strong lad who is good on the ball. We are hoping to get it confirmed this week."

Coleman also said he was in contact with Peterborough about keeping defender Kieran Charnock permanently. The player is valued at £50,000 and Coleman said: "I keep talking to them and we will have to see."