DEFEATS like the one suffered at Salford City's Peninsula Stadium make Accrington Stanley manager John Coleman question the decisions he makes regarding his squad and team selection.

Stanley were knocked out of the Leasing.com Trophy at the quarter finals stage and saw their Wembley dream crushed by the 2-1 loss.

The Reds took the lead through Sam Finley, but conceded to Cameron Burgess on the stroke of half time before Tom Elliott found the net in the opening minutes of the second period.

"I’ve got to question myself first and foremost, which I almost do. We’re just not good enough at the moment," said Coleman.

"We’ve gone from being the form team in the league, you don’t become a bad team overnight, it’s taken us four weeks. "We’re a shadow of the team that were blowing Portsmouth, Bolton and Burton away, we’re a shadow of that team and I don’t know why. I can’t put my finger on it.

"We’ve got to snap out of it otherwise we’ll get relegated. We’ve worked ever so hard to stay in this league. We can’t go out like we’re sleep walking towards it at the moment. "I think there’s plenty of fight there, but there’s so little guile and so many mistakes and basic errors being made. I’m culpable for that, I pick the team.

"Maybe I haven’t assembled a strong enough squad, maybe it’s time to give some other players a chance. "The definition of madness is doing the same thing and expecting a different result, we’re getting the same result."

Stanley's manager was left to rue mistakes made by goalkeeper Joe Bursik and centre half Ross Sykes, with both leading to Salford's two goals either side of half time.

"That’s something that’s plagued us over recent weeks, we haven’t been able to find the target with our shooting," added Coleman in his post match interview in Salford.

"A lot of them get blocked and we’ve been hesitant and then we’re capable of making ridiculous mistakes. Joe Bursik for the first one and Ross Sykes for the second one.

"They’ve been round our goal three times, they had a header that was saved, scored their goal right on half time and then they’ve got the goal in the first couple of minutes of the second half. Ross knows he should have just put the ball down the line.

"Luke Armstrong’s done well to get to the by-line and put the ball in the box and then they’ve got the one player in the box to score."

Much like the story of recent weeks, Stanley made Salford camp in their own half for much of the match, but couldn't convert any of the chances they created.

Coleman was disappointed his side couldn't score more to take his side one step closer to their first Wembley appearance.

"That was going to be the story of the night for us really, too little too late," the Stanley manager added.

"We pinned them back, I don’t think they got out of their half much in the second half, but they defended resolutely.

"I’m playing my first team there and they’ve made eight changes, they’re playing their reserves. We’ve been beaten by their reserves and whether we deserve it or not, the harsh reality is that we’ve been beaten by their reserves. "It’s a blow to your pride and our players have got to suffer for it. I’m running out of opportunities to get to Wembley, I know this club haven’t been to Wembley, but I’m desperate to take a team there. "I’ll probably be dead in eight or nine years so I’m running out of opportunities. My time is running out. I just wished our players realised the opportunities they found themselves in.

"I wish I had these chances when I was playing."