One comment by the lively Accrington fans which caused a wry smile was ‘can we play you every week?’ And it wouldn’t be a bad deal for the Reds.

It’s been six years and 10 league games since Morecambe overcame the Reds, although this was probably one of the closest games where that record came under pressure.

It took something special to settle the Boxing Day derby – a wonder goal by the Reds’ new star Bryan Hughes, who Stanley desperately need to sign up to a new deal to stop the threat of the non-contract player going elsewhere.

But whichever way the goals went in the most important thing was the three points, a fourth consecutive league win for the Reds – that last happened in the Conference-winning season – and that Stanley upheld their record of never losing in white this season.

If only we could play in that strip every week too.

It wasn’t perhaps the most memorable of matches but try telling that to the three busloads of Stanley fans who were noisy throughout and never stopped singing for their team – they certainly had plenty of Christmas cheer and boss John Coleman was more happy for them.

He said: "I am delighted – it could have gone either way and it was a tremendous festive fillip for the crowd.

"I thought our crowd were fantastic. Obviously they have got a lot to sing about because we have won but they were magnificent, they stayed with us right throughout the game."

While the crowd played their part, the Reds once more played as a team with Craig Lindfield helping the Reds to take charge in the first half.

He played a couple of decent balls into the box but his best came in the 34th minute when he got down the right, beat his man and put in an accurate cross to the far post. Defender Kevin¿Long was waiting but his header was kept out by keeper Barry Roche, only to fall to Jayden Stockley five yards out who made it three goals for the Reds so far.

He is another Stanley will be trying to sign up to a longer term deal as he is due back at parent club Bournemouth next month.

Coleman was just pleased to see the ball hit the back of the net – as Stockley had forgotten his shooting boots at training the day before.

"Jayden’s was my type of goal," said the Reds boss. "We worked with the forwards on Christmas Day and these were the things we were trying to get across to them.

"It was though the worst finishing session I have seen but the first chance Jayden got at the Globe, he scored.

"We are always on about the forwards following in and it was a great ball in by Craig Lindfield, a good header by Kevin and luckily for me it didn’t go in then as I promised Kevin an extra day off if he gets another goal by the end of the year."

Morecambe, who topped the table in October, posed a threat without testing Ian Dunbavin but it was a different story after the break following a half-time team talk by Jim Bentley and a slight re-organisation.

They piled on the pressure, with balls into the box causing all kinds of problems.

A goal was coming and, 10 minutes after the restart in a melee, Danny Carlton had a shot well saved by Dunbavin but it came out to Stuart Drummond who fired home the equaliser.

The home side then had their crowd behind them and were attacking in waves with Carlton not getting any power behind a free header and Dunbavin diving low to hold onto a ball four yards out as kicks came in from every angle.

And from this good chance for Morecambe, Stanley went down the other end, the ball was cleared to Hughes at the edge of the area and, out of nothing, the former Premier League midfielder turned and chipped it into the top of the net in front of the visiting fans.

Coleman said: "It was one of those games that was always going to be decided by a mistake or by a little bit of brilliance and thankfully for us Bryan Hughes popped up with a little bit of brilliance.

"We spoke at half-time that it was important we pulled the trigger in and around their box and thankfully it was a well struck goal."

Morecambe continued to look for another equaliser but the Reds were dangerous on the break. Lindfield could have wrapped it up in the final minutes – he ran through one-on-one but Roche denied him.

And skipper Andy Procter had a clever flick cleared off the line but it didn’t matter as the relief at the final whistle showed with a group hug by the Reds’ team and celebrations with their fans.

"Morecambe were unlucky and I knew theye would come out strongly in the second half and they didn’t disappoint," said ex-Shrimp Coleman.

"They are a good side with a good manager in Jim Bentley. He has got the ideal temperament, passion and enthusiasm to be a manager and also has knowledge and is level headed.

"He will take this in his stride but I’m sure they’ll win a lot more games this season.

"For us, the lads are working hard for each other and you could see how much it meant to them all that they took the three points.

"We went through a spell this season where we were finding it hard to win. Now we are finding it hard not to win and that’s a lovely position to be in.

"We have got to try and keep that run together but there is a big chunk ahead – there is still over half the season to go – and we are slowly finding our feet but it’s still early days.

"We have got to work at the things that we know we are good at and iron out and work on the areas we need to improve. It’s going to be a lot of hard work but we are all prepared to do it."

And then hopefully there will be a lot more days like Boxing Day.