Accrington Stanley boss John Coleman was disappointed that his side didn’t capitalise on their first-half dominance against Portsmouth.

Josh Windass’ 25-yard free-kick gave the Reds the lead but Ryan Taylor’s header leveled the scores just four minutes later.

Kal Naismith, Andy Procter and Windass all went close to restoring the lead, but Anthony Barry was sent off in the opening ten minutes of the second half.

Despite that setback, Stanley battled hard to take a share of the points.

Coleman said: “We missed a host of chances in the first half – three or four sitters, you have to call them. We’ve got to be putting them away when we’re on top and that’s not the first time it’s happened in the last couple of weeks.

“We created more than enough chances and we’ve gifted them a goal which is hard to take because we worked hard for our chances and our goal but we’ve given them theirs.

“We probably made more chances in the first half today than we have in the last three or four weeks, so it’s disappointing not to win the game.

“The game changed with the sending off and we’ve battled away. It’s testament to the character of the lads that they have dug in and earned a point despite a lot not going for them today.”

Windass’ goal was his third in his last four games and Coleman was delighted to see hard work pay off for the midfielder, even if he did ignore his manager’s advice.

“I was giving him some advice about free-kicks yesterday and he did the complete opposite to what I showed him!” he laughed.

“It was a fantastic finish and thoroughly deserved because Josh has been working hard and he deserves his rewards.”