ACCRINGTON Stanley are not yet in crisis - but the alarm bells are beginning to ring.
Immediately after Saturday's defeat, the main focus was to look at the League Two table and pray those below the Reds had continued slipping up.
However, it was more gloomy news as only Rochdale under them had lost and the Reds, in 20th spot, are too close for comfort to the bottom two places.
The statistics aren't good - one point out of the last 21; six defeats in seven league games; three red cards in five games and the Reds now have the worst defence in the league with 38 goals conceded.
However, while it makes bad reading on paper, manager John Coleman has plenty of glimmers of hope and a win tomorrow (Sat) would make all the difference.
He has said he wants 30 points by January 1 and, with four games before that, three wins would make that target and give the Reds promise to kick on and move up the table.
And the goals are going in. Paul Mullin ended a three-month goal drought to score two on Saturday and take his tally to six league goals for the season to show he has the League class.
And anyone who left early missed an absolute stunner by Andy Mangan who rifled home from 20 yards in the dying minutes to boost his own confidence and show that strong attitude which will hopefully lead to a turnabout in fortunes for the Reds.
Plus Coleman is hoping the referees start seeing things Stanley's way.
The Reds have had eight yellow cards and one red in the last two games - the opponents have had none.
And everyone who watches the Reds knows they aren't a dirty team but it seems they are suffering like they did in their first season in the Conference - where they were fined for a poor disciplinary record as they got used to the new league.
The Reds chief is understandably frustrated by the officials and referee Darren Drysdale on Saturday drove him to despair in the after-match press conference as he couldn't hide his frustration.
"I'd love to know what I've done to referees - and more to the point what Paul Mullin's done to referees - because every single week decisions go against us. Players are climbing all over Paul and yanking him on the floor - it's not a foul. Yet the minute he nudges someone it's a foul against him.
"It can't just be coincidental - it's happening too often.
"If you think about the amount of yellow cards we got today, yet again they (the opposition) got no yellow cards.
"It's happening week in, week out, and it's absolutely spoiling the whole experience of football for me.
"I don't want to be a Moaning Minnie or a whinger but when are we going to get decisions going for us? They just don't and I don't know why.
"The law of averages says you've got to get a decision in your favour, and we don't."
He continued: "It's not the reason why we're losing. They reason why we're losing games is because we're not defending properly. We're defending like amateurs.
"But it's a major, contributory factor when the referee turns in a performance like that.
"The referee, again, against MK Dons was poor and he's helped them get the victory.
"It's totally wrong and it's ruining any chance we're having of winning games.
"At the end of the day we're all entitled to make mistakes - he's only human and I accept that.
"But I just wish that somewhere along the line one of those mistakes would fall in our favour because they never do."
There were high hopes that the Reds would finally put their recent bad form behind them against the promotion-chasing Dons, managed by ex-Barnet boss Martin Allen.
Coleman had to re-shuffle his back line yet again with Michael Welch suspended but the Reds started with confidence and pressed the visitors.
However, give a good striker a chance and he will take it and, against the run of play, Izale McLeod was allowed space on the left wing to charge forward, get into a good position and let rip with a 20-yard drive which gave Ian Dunbavin no chance on 16 minutes.
The visitors then got on top with tidy winger Jon-Paul McGovern's overhead kick being headed off the line by Stanley defender Robbie Williams.
However, it was then the Reds' turn to hit their opponents on the break when Joe Jacobson's left wing cross found the foot of Mullin at the far post who ended his goal drought which harked back to September to fire the ball home on 38 minutes.
Stanley were still celebrating four minutes later when Leighton McGivern outwitted the Dons defence and played in another cross with this time Mullin heading the ball home to make it six league goals for the season.
Perhaps it was finally time to believe that the Reds could grab that elusive first win as they had done superbly well to come back against a strong Dons side.
However it all went wrong immediately after the break.
Coleman was furious visiting winger Lloyd Dyer didn't see red as he seemed to stamp on the grounded Leam Richardson after a clash.. Mr Drysdale did have lengthy talks with his assistant but ended up giving nothing.
"The referee saw their player stand all over our fella's shoulder and throat," fumed Coleman. "He blew the whistle in a manner that he was going to do something about it then he had a change of heart and went over to speak to the linesman. Then he came back and gave a foul and he didn't speak to their player.
"For me, I just can't understand what he's given the foul for and why he hasn't got the conviction to go through with his actions.
"If that was us, you can make no bones about it, we would have been down to 10 men. It happens to us too regularly."
And, soon after the controversy, Stanley were crushed by an equaliser. Former Burnley player Drisso Diallo looped in a ball which was dropped by Dunbavin. Striker Aaron Wilbraham, who had been kept quiet before the break, pounced and, as the ball bounced around, poked home the leveller.
And it was Stanley's turn to be shell-shocked four minutes later when they failed to clear their lines from a corner, Keith Andrews tackled McGivern on the edge and put the ball back in and Wilbraham ran onto it, before the outrushing Dunbavin, and tucked the ball home for a 3-2 lead.
The Stanley keeper then had a lucky escape on 61 minutes when he dived at the feet of McLeod who was rushing in the area and knocked him off-balance.
The tall striker somehow managed to stay on his feet and had his eventual shot blocked. But, if he had gone over, the referee might have made things worse for the Reds.
However, they were punished enough with the next attack with the pacey McLeod outstripping the Reds defence only to be clipped by Williams on the edge of the area.
The defender could have few complaints as the referee held up a second yellow card - and, on 63 minutes, the Reds were down to 10-men.
It was hard on Williams, the hero against Shrewsbury, who had enjoyed a solid game but McLeod was a tricky customer and Williams paid the price.
The 10-men once against performed valiantly but MK Dons kept pressing with Dyer, lucky to be on the pitch, coming close with his shot deflected into the side netting.
From the resulting corner, it was head tennis for MK Dons with Stanley, once again, unable to clear their lines and Wilbraham guided the ball in for defender Sean O'Hanlon to find the back of the net with ten minutes left.
Anyone who left then missed the best goal of the game as Stanley rallied. The ten men charged forward and Mangan got the ball down and belted it home from 20 yards for a superb solo effort to set up a grandstand finish.
Todd and midfielders Andy Procter and Jay Harris all showed urgency in the final eight minutes - and five minutes of injury time - as Stanley looked for the equaliser to repeat their late heroics of the week before against the Shrews.
But this week, time ran out for them to leave the fans dashing for the League Two table.
"It was absolutely shambolic defending, and until January comes I've just got to work hard on the training ground and try to get it right," said Coleman.
"The fact that we're scoring three goals again shows that we're good enough - we just can't defend like we do.
"We've scored three magnificent goals, they've scored one good goal. We've gifted them another three.
"If we keep defending like that, we'll go down, it's as simple as that. So we've got to not defend like that so we'll stay up."
If the Reds can shut-up shop, Stanley can silence any alarm bells and start to make that vital move back up the table towards safety.
