ACCRINGTON assistant boss Jimmy Bell hopes victory at Wanderers has not arrived too late for them to save their skins in League One.

Stanley are two points from safety with two games remaining after Ethan Hamilton’s goal proved enough for three wholly unexpected points at the UniBol.

Bell admitted the gameplan had been to “nullify” Wanderers – and after a desperate run of just one victory in the previous 11 matches, even he was surprised how well it worked.

“We never thought we would be getting three points but we needed them,” he said after the game.

“It is a massive result. It is something, we told them - as we have for the last eight or nine games - we had to get something from the game.

“The penny finally dropped or hopefully it has. That’s one win with two massive games to go.

“Three points at this stage of the season from a game no one expected us to win is massive and it was a massive performance by every single one of the squad. Even the young physios were jumping and screaming.

“We had a game plan and the players stuck to it magnificently all night.

“Bolton are one of the top teams in the league, full of intricate footballers who can all handle the ball.

“They gave a way of playing and we had to nullify that.”

Ex-Wanderers loanee Lukas Jensen made a string of big saves to keep a clean sheet, celebrating at the final whistle by running the length of the field to slide in front of the away supporters in the South Stand.

Bell has urged his squad to make sure the result counts for something.

“It is a massive relief and gives us a chance,” he said, with a home game against Cambridge to come on Saturday, followed by a trip to Oxford. “If we can replicate what we did tonight then we have a chance.

“If we had given a few more performances like this one we wouldn’t be in this position.

“But we have a chance and we have got to fight for everything and see where it takes us.

“Everyone wrote us off. We never thought we would be getting three points but we needed them.”