John Coleman is putting plans in place for next season as he looks to secure the futures of Stanley’s key men but will put everything on hold tomorrow for a trip to Hartlepool.

The Reds head to the north east 12 points clear of the relegation places with 12 left to play for to take on a Pools team third from bottom.

Only seven players in the Stanley squad have deals for 2015/16 and just two in the starting eleven at Cambridge at the weekend have contracts beyond the summer.

The manager wants talks to change that – but not until the next League Two test is out of the way.

“We have to be fair to the players and that’s something that we’ll be looking to do over the next ten days or so,” he said. “We’d like to have the points to ensure we’re in the league again first though. I know people will say that we’re safe but we’re not mathematically safe so hopefully we can get the required points tomorrow and then start looking towards next season.

“We see the lads in training every day and we also see what they can do in game situations so they aren’t decisions that will be made on the basis of one or two appearances.”

At one point Hartlepool were well adrift at the foot of the table but have undergone a renaissance under manager Ronnie Moore and are now a point outside the relegation places.

Coley’s been impressed with the job his opposite number has done to get them into that position.

“It’s no surprise to me that they’ve come back from being adrift,” he continued. “We beat them 3-1 at home and even though Ronnie wasn’t the manager then it was never a 3-1. They’ve got good players and they should have. They’re a big club.

“Ronnie’s got them going again, galvanised them and made them believe that they can stay up. I think that’s half the battle.

“They’ve lost their last three but previous to that I think they’d won four on the spin. We’ve been on those little runs in this league ourselves and we know what it’s all about.

“We owe it to ourselves and to the teams around Hartlepool to try to win the game. I’m expecting it to be tough. I’m expecting a good atmosphere and for them to throw the kitchen sink at us. When we have games like that we normally give as good as we get so I’m hoping we go toe to toe with them and come out winners.

“I get on well with Ronnie and I’m sure we’ll have a glass of wine in his office after the game but before that I’ll be trying to beat him!”