James Beattie said he had let his football do the talking on Tuesday night – and few could argue with that.

It was a big night for the 34-year-old in that he finally broke his three-year goal drought to end a statistic he won’t have enjoyed hearing time and again.

But it was an even bigger night for the Reds who saw off a side that could have gone into the automatic promotion places with a win but who came up against Stanley in top form.

The Reds had stuttered of late with five points out of a possible 24 prior to their trip to Highbury.

But that wasn’t a reflection on new boss Leam Richardson who has now only lost one of his six games in charge and this win could be the revival they need to start climbing up the table again.

"We did need that win but the lads have conducted themselves fantastically," said Richardson.

"We knew Fleetwood would put us under pressure as the home team but we played some good football, coped with the pressure and took our chances. Now we want to kick on."

Beattie took the applause for keeping his cool to blast home a ninth minute penalty – despite getting plenty of stick from the Fleetwood fans behind the goal – to finally put an end to the unwanted statistic that he hadn’t scored since October 2009.

He was making his first start for the Reds as Richardson reshuffled his pack for the first real time as manager.

Rob Atkinson couldn’t play against his parent club but Padraig Amond, James Gray and the ill Will Hatfield made way for Beattie, Michael Liddle, Toto Nsiala and Craig Lindfield.

And all seized their chance to stake a claim for a regular starting place as the Reds, once they had taken the lead, never looked in trouble against Micky Mellon’s side, who are one of the favourites for back-to-back promotions.

From the ninth minute opener, when Youl Mawene dragged Peter Murphy back for Beattie’s penalty, Stanley were in charge.

Beattie had a part in number two when Luke Joyce broke up a Fleetwood attack. Molyneux broke, found Rommy Boco on the left and his looping ball was headed into the danger area by Beattie at the far post.

Lindfield bravely dived in with keeper Scott Davies and up popped George Miller to force the ball over the line and make it three goals for the former Preston midfielder for the season.

Despite Fleetwood boasting the likes of ex-Blackburn Rovers duo Barry Ferguson and Damien Johnson in their ranks, they didn’t test Ian Dunbavin at all in the first half.

The Reds backline blocked, harried, hassled and pressed and, while Fleetwood did have a lot of possession, they didn’t do a lot with it leaving Stanley dangerous on the break.

Boco forced a decent save out of Davies in the opening moments of the second half while Beattie could have written himself into the Reds’ history books with the goal of the season.

He got the ball 40 yards out, spotted Davies off his line but could only find the roof of the net with his clever lob– although the visiting fans loved his audacity.

Fleetwood sub Barry Nicholson did find the woodwork with a free kick which could have got nerves jangling but Boco sealed the win on 62 minutes.

It was Beattie who pounced on a long ball forward and only had Davies to beat; he waited to place his shot as the Cod keeper came out but the stopper did well to deny him.

However the former Southampton man got the ball back and he set up Boco for an easy goal for his seventh of the season.

The Stanley fans were certainly enoying their first league trip to Highbury and even when Jamie McGuire headed home at the far post with 20 minutes left, it wasn’t going to spoil their day.

Boco was running the show and only Davies denied him a second with a superb swirling shot from distance while Dunbavin finally got in on the act to keep out Junior Brown’s overhead kick in the dying minutes to make sure that Richardson could at least relax a little in injury time.

All in all it was a solid show from the Reds with Richardson not wanting to single out Beattie – his former Rovers team-mate – for praise as he was happy everyone played their part.

"We deserved to win and it was about the team," said the Stanley boss.

"I have learnt that the most important people at a football club are the lads who aren’t playing as it’s mine and their job to keep themselves fit for when they are called up.

"And Toto, Craig and Michael have done this and they have come in against a good Fleetwood side and not looked out of place – which they shouldn’t.

"James (Beattie) wasn’t on penalties but I am sure no one would argue with him as he is a confident lad and it’s a great penalty.

"George (Miller) has shown a great willingness to get there to score the second and Rommy is fantastic. He is getting his goals but it’s his work rate as well.

"He is going from strength to strength but hopefully we will as a team now.

"This should give the lads confidence. We have played the likes of Southend, Cheltenham, Port Vale and Rochdale – teams expected to be up there – and given a good account of ourselves and got some good results.

"Now we have got this and the players should believe in themselves and believe they can win games wherever they go."