Kevin McIntyre is determined to prove any Reds’ doubters wrong. No-one gave Stanley a chance against top of the league Crawley on Saturday who had won seven on the bounce while Stanley had one win in 11 league games.

But they came away with a creditable 1-1 draw and now the Reds want to spring more ‘surprise’ results and move up the table.

Left back McIntyre said: "We know we have got a good team here, it’s just a matter of the results not going our way for one reason or another.

"But we know we are good enough and it is just a matter of working hard and proving to everyone else what a good team we are.

"The more doubters we have the better we will be for it.

"Let them say what we want and we will try and prove them all wrong."

McIntyre, 33, has come in this season and become a regular fixture on the left but he admitted that the Shrewsbury defeat last week – against the club he left in the summer – hurt him.

"To be honest, the Shrewsbury defeat was hard because it was my old club but I just wanted to get it out of the way and get the game done and dusted. It’s done now and I can move on. I’m just glad it’s over."

And McIntyre hopes that the Crawley draw – Stanley’s 12th in their 16 away trips since February – will be the spark they need after a string of recent poor results.

"We’ve had had a few bad results prior to the Crawley game so it was important to not only try to get something out of this game but to put in a good, solid performance as well.

"I think we did that and we came off the pitch disappointed we hadn’t won.

"And so to come away from Crawley feeling like that can’t be a bad thing.I thought the boys were brilliant.

"It’s a tough place to come, they were top of the league and I thought we battled hard.

"Unfortunately they scored in the last 12 minutes. I thought we could hold on but it wasn’t to be. At the end of the day it was a good performance and just what we needed really."

He continued: "You try not to let bad runs affect you but, after a while ,you become aware of those statistics and it’s difficult.

"Everyone reacts differently to a bad run but you’ve just got to make sure that as a team you all stick together.

"You drag each other through it and I’m sure we’ll come out of the other side and better for it.

"We’re still hopeful of chasing a play-off place."

And while he was impressed with Peter Murphy’s goal – their first in seven hours – he wasn’t so taken by the defender’s goal celebration.

"He ran over punching the corner flag – I am not sure about that. I think he thinks he is Tim Cahill!

"But the gaffer told us that it was our first half-time lead of the season and it’s about time.

"It was great going in ahead and coming out with something to hold onto and it’s just a shame that we couldn’t.

"The goal has given us a lot of confidence though as it gets rid of the statistic of not having scored for hours and now we can move on."

Now the Reds need to build on that.

"It’s a great point but it’ll be an even better point if we win against Bristol Rovers tomorrow," said McIntyre.

"It’s just a matter of building on it, working hard and hopefully getting a great home result."

Stanley have added Bryan Hughes and Micah Evans to their squad this week and McIntyre admitted: "Competition for places keeps players on their toes.

"We’ve watched Bryan in training for four weeks and he’s brilliant. Everyone who you ask will tell you that.

"I think he can only do good for us and hopefully everybody will get the chance to see him."