Coleman praise for Gornell

Accrington boss John Coleman hailed striker Terry Gornell after he scored the late winner as Stanley overcame Oxford.

Gornell is in his third spell with the Reds, signing on deadline day after his release from Cheltenham. And he popped up to score a 90th-minute winner against United as Stanley halted a run of five successive defeats. "Take Terry's goal away and he was superb," said Coleman. "His hold-up play and the way he led the line bodes well for the rest of the season. "That's what we brought him in for and this is the first step back for us as a team as we will still have teams snapping at our heels and we have some big games coming up." Coleman also praised Stanley's Argentinian winger Gerardo Bruna who was making his home debut after also signing last week. Bruna started his career at Real Madrid and showed his skills, bursting forward but hitting a post with a great chance in the 48th minute. "He could have made himself an instant hero," said Coleman. "If that goes in it's a wonderful strike but we see that in training and that's why we have given him a chance. "The lads worked so hard, they threw their bodies in front of everything and we saw it through right to the end. What we have got to do now is give ourselves a chance in games which we haven't been doing recently. " Oxford boss Michael Appleton felt it was a foul on his goalkeeper Ryan Clarke when Kal Naismith played in a free-kick which Gornell eventually hooked in. "We have been undone by a poor decision," said the United boss. "It is difficult to take but we still had chances to clear it and we still had five minutes of injury time to get back in it so it does hurt." James Roberts missed an open goal for Oxford in the 75th minute and Appleton said: "I think it bobbled as he is usually in the right place at the right time. "I felt as though we passed when we should have shot or we shot when we should have passed, although we still had an opportunity to win the game. "At the moment we seem to be taking one step forward and two steps back and the players have got to grasp responsibility. "When we have a positive result, like we have in the last three games, we have to keep going forward but we haven't been able to do that."