Stuart McCall can throw away his video nasty after City exacted sweet revenge at Accrington.

McCall's men celebrated the new year in the best way possible as second-half goals from Matt Clarke and Joe Colbeck sealed their third away win.

It was the perfect payback for the manager's blackest point in charge when Stanley won 3-0 at Valley Parade in October.

McCall put himself through the pain of watching that game again before yesterday's return match, which made him even more fired up to see City get it right second time around.

He said: "I put it on in the morning and it just made me angry all over again.

"There have been other times this season when we may have been unlucky or just weren't good enough - but that was the only game when I can say they wanted it more than us.

"That's why I told the players it would be nice if we could match the scoreline at their place. I'm not being blase but I genuinely felt that and my only disappointment about today is that we could have made it a lot more comfortable with the chances we had.

"We started poorly but I enjoyed the second half and I thought we thoroughly deserved to win.

"Coming from Valley Parade and having 13,500 crowds, this was about attitude and application and we showed that."

Lee Bullock slotted in effectively in central midfield at the start of his loan from Hartlepool as McCall picked an "ugly" side for the occasion.

"That's the biggest team I've played for us this season," added the City boss, who also recalled Barry Conlon up front.

"We knew the sort of game it was going to be and I decided to go with experience, strength and know-how - make us a bit more ugly.

"I thought Bullock was what we wanted in there and did well. He was a tower of strength and also made some good runs.

"But we also had pace in the two wide areas from Omar (Daley) and Joe and I felt they could be our match-winners."

City's only scare came in stoppage time when Accrington skipper Andy Procter headed against the angle of post and bar from a free-kick. But they hit back straight away with Daley breaking to the other end where Colbeck struck his fourth goal of the campaign to make sure.

McCall said: "If you can't kill teams off when you dominate, then there is always that danger of conceding but it would have been cruel.

"But I'm pleased for Joe to get the second goal. Yes, he's got weaknesses and we all get frustrated at times with his final ball, Joe included, but in terms of raw pace and desire he is terrific."

McCall also thanked the huge travelling support which made up over half of Accrington's season-best crowd.

He added: "Seeing that many getting right behind you is fantastic and just makes Wayne (Jacobs), myself and the chairmen more determined than ever to get it right."

City suffered an injury blow before the game when Mark Bower damaged his knee in the warm-up.

His condition will be assessed tomorrow by physio Steve Redmond.

  • Start or join a debate on this issue in our online forum - Click here