Make it easy on yourselves: Jim
COUNTY chief Jim Gannon admitted that his side are “making things more difficult for themselves”, as The Hatters had to rely on a late equaliser for the third week running.
Darren Stephenson broke his County duck with an 87th minute leveller, as Gannon’s men salvaged a late 2-2 draw with Southport in the FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round – but the Hatters boss expressed his frustration with the “necessity” for another late fightback from his players.
Stephenson’s heroics came just a week after a 93rd minute leveller by leading goalscorer Jason Oswell earned County a point against in-form Chorley, and a fortnight after Jimmy Ball’s remarkable 97th minute equaliser in a 2-2 draw at Boston United.
“It’s actually hugely frustrating - we give the lads great credit, as we have done the last two weeks, for coming back late on. But I still feel that we’re making basic errors which are leading to us needing to fight back in the first place,” Gannon said.
The Hatters found themselves trailing midway through the second half through Jason Gilchrist’s debut goal for the Sandgrounders – with the striker joining Southport from lowly FC United of Manchester, having been linked to a move to County prior to the move.
The turnaround for Davies’ side – who haven’t won in seven games since the former Bolton striker’s appointment as boss – came after Andy White had levelled in the first half just two minutes after Bohan Dixon’s first Edgeley Park goal.
In the same half, controversy arose when Gannon hauled midfielder Sam Walker off just 25 minutes into proceedings for the third time this season.
Experienced former Salford man Walker, who joined County on a two year deal in the summer, applauded the home supporters before making his way immediately down the tunnel and shunned a handshake with Gannon and incoming substitute Kallum Mantack – but Gannon downplayed any talk of a rift with his creative midfielder.
“I’ve spoken to Sam; he was really disappointed to come off naturally. I wanted to work him into the side as we’ve missed his set-pieces and his presence in midfield, but I thought they were disappointing on Saturday - and we needed to make a sacrifice, as we were struggling to deal with their attacking threat. I just felt that Jimmy and Gary would offer more energy behind Bohan and Matty, and someone had to be sacrificed,” Gannon explained.
“It happens. A few more elderly County fans may remember my taking my shirt off and throwing it at Danny Bergara when he took me off at half-time at Edgeley Park many years ago! It’s a perfectly natural and understandable response, it’s not the first time I’ve taken Sam off in the first half and he must have been wondering what he’d done wrong. I told him he hadn’t done anything wrong, and we needed a sacrifice as we were really struggling to deal with their right hand side, and Kallum Mantack was the obvious choice.”
“I told Sam I was disappointed for Kallum, as he didn’t deserve that disrespect - but it’s a completely understandable reaction.”
Gannon did reserve praise for his late goalscorer, however, with Stephenson producing the goods against his former side for the attacking midfielder’s first goal in 19 months.
The former Tranmere man was a marquee signing for Gannon over the summer, joining County on a two-year deal – but has since struggled to adjust to life at Edgeley Park, being removed from the squad completely after what Gannon described as a “very tough” opening ten games for the winger.
“I’m delighted for Darren. It’s been a long road back for him; we were really disappointed - as was Darren - with his first ten games or so for us. He maybe wasn’t mentally or physically ready, and then he also picked up an ankle injury which swelled every time he played. We’ve had to be patient with him - and why shouldn’t we be? He’s our player for the next two years.”
“I wasn’t happy with Jason Oswell or Matty Warburton’s link-up on Saturday, but they’ve obviously been great for us this season, and now hopefully Darren can start to contribute to that. I was joking with him that he’s the reason we’ve got a replay in Southport now!”