Stanley midfielder Michael Richardson was more than happy to be a square peg in a round hole after filling in at right back for the game against Fleetwood.

The man on loan from Newcastle is accustomed to playing in the centre of the park but was deployed as the right full back against the Cod Army with Nicky Hunt serving a one-match ban after he picked up his fifth booking of the season against Torquay last Saturday.

He said: “I picked up an injury in training which kept me out for two to three weeks and it’s been hard to get back in with the team playing so well. With Nicky being suspended, it gave me a chance. I was out of position but it doesn’t really bother me.

“The gaffer rang me and asked if I’d fill in at right back, which I was more than happy to do; I’d play in goal if he asked me to! I was just happy to play and get a great result to keep the run going.”

The 21 year-old didn’t look out of place up against Jeff Hughes, who was on the left wing for the visitors, and says that he could notice the difference between playing in defence and in midfield during his 90 minutes of rearguard action.

“You get a lot more time on the ball so it’s easier to pick your passes,” he observed. “Defensively, it’s a different job. I thought the back four defended really well and the midfield helped us out a lot.”

“If we keep clean sheets, we’ll win games with the striker we’ve got and the chances we’ve been creating. ”

“Fleetwood passed it well in the first half and we’ve come in 0-0 at half time feeling a bit disappointed but we knew we had more to give and that we would create chances.

“Marcus hasn’t had a lot to do and, once we got the first goal, we were confident that we would keep a clean sheet and win the game.”

The win took Stanley’s unbeaten run to eight games in the league and Richardson believes that the club are seeing the rewards of consistency both on and off the field.

“Not a lot has changed,” he said. “The team are playing well and creating chances. Maybe at the start of the season we weren’t finishing those chances off but the luck was always going to turn eventually.

“We conceded a few goals in stoppage time at the start of the season and we weren’t getting the rub of the green. That’s changed now and we’re on a great run at the minute.”

“We’ll keep our feet firmly on the ground. We won’t be getting carried away with ourselves just because we’re on a good run. We’ll keep working hard in training, doing what we do well and hopefully keep climbing the table.”