JOHN Coleman has praised the attitude of his Accrington Stanley players after their 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers in the second round of the Leasing.com Trophy on Tuesday night.

Offrande Zanzala opened the scoring in the match in the first half and then substitute Colby Bishop secured Stanley's place in the last 16 with a goal five minutes from time.

The Reds boss doesn't believe you can fault any of his players for their efforts so far this season.

"We’ve got really good strength in depth now with everyone pushing for places, that can only be healthy," said Coleman.

"No one is guaranteed a place and everyone who comes in looks as though they want to try and grab a shirt.

"That’s all you can ask for as a manager, players who are hungry to play and players who will give their all for the club. I think we’ve seen that over the course of the season to be honest.

"There haven’t been too many where we can fault our players for effort. Sometimes we might be a little bit misguided and unlucky.

"But I think in the main, I think if you were rating them for effort every week then they’d be up there with the nines and tens."

There was torrential rain at times during the game in Accrington which made it difficult for both sides to get the ball down and play the ball around as they would have liked.

"It wasn’t pretty and the conditions made it very difficult for both teams," Coleman added.

"It was scrappy, the ball was sticking in the wind and it was hard to get the ball down and play. I think both tried and Bolton came at us in the second half and we had to defend well.

"I thought we defended well all match to be fair, we’ve limited them to a few chances and Joe Bursik’s made a good save.

"Sometimes when you win a game, you have o win it differently and be prepared to change your style of play to suit the conditions and do what’s required and that’s what we did.

"We ground it out and getting the second goal late on made it a bit more comfortable for us in the last few minutes. It was a tough game."

Coleman has a lot of respect for the Bolton management team and highlighted how you have to be prepared to dig in against a Keith Hill side.

Tuesday's win means Stanley bank £20,000 for reaching the last 16 and this could enable Coleman to further add to his squad in the January window.

"They have got some good players and they do attack well. They’ve got a good management team in Keith and Flickers," the Reds boss added.

"They know what they’re doing, they’re no mugs. Every time you play against them, it’s going to be a difficult game.

"We had to really dig in to get the result and we told our players at the start that we have to try and win this game whatever it takes.

"Maybe £20,000 means a lot more to us than them. I’m not saying they took it lightly, but £20,000 can make a difference between now and the end of the season for us."