A perfect week for Hatters’ play-off bid
COUNTY chief Jim Gannon said it was ‘all to play for’ in the National League North play-off race, as his Hatters side capped a ‘perfect week’ with three wins out of three after a 4-0 thrashing of Leamington on Saturday.
Jimmy Ball got the hosts off to a dream start after firing past veteran stopper Jose Veiga at the near post, before Rhys Turner and Ball again trebled that lead by the half hour mark as the home side blitzed their weary visitors at Edgeley Park.
And Gannon admitted that, after a long Thursday night trip to Spennymoor for Paul Holleran’s Leamington, it was “well within the game plan” to strike early against a tired away defence.
“No game is ever won early on, but we really wanted to get at them and test their mental and physical fatigue,” he said.
“Obviously they’d had a long trip to Spennymoor on the Thursday evening, they had a new goalkeeper and a makeshift left-back due to injuries so we really wanted to test them, and the lads did just that.
“I’m delighted with the result but I don’t think it’s a fair reflection on them, they’re not a bad side.
“They’ve won three of the past four and have only conceded one goal, so the lads have done really well and implemented what we’d planned in training almost to perfection.”
The hosts had carved through their usuallymiserly visitors on a number of occasions after Ball’s early strike before Turner rifled home, whilst Ball’s second came from a long clearance by goalkeeper Ben Hinchliffe.
And the former Motherwell boss was quick to praise his “adaptable” players for proving their ability to “mix things up”, after his side showed patience to break down an unambitious Boston team on Tuesday evening before slicing through their Saturday visitors in front of a bumper crowd at Edgeley Park.
“It was a very professional display, and on top of that the lads also showed that they can mix it up quite well.
“I’ve always been taught, and tried to then teach my players, that to be a really good side you need to be able to play both kinds of football, from route one to passing and controlling the game, and doing so at the right time.
“The lads mastered that on Saturday and it resulted in an emphatic win.”
And the positives continued for Gannon in the big win, with the return to action of Paul Turnbull and wing-back Sam Minihan, the latter of whom spent six months on the sideline before returning as a second half substitute at the weekend.
Minihan, who almost capped a dream return before spurning a huge chance with his first touch just six yards from goal, eventually grabbed an assist with a late pull-back for Scott Duxbury to tap home Jason Oswell’s deflected shot, while Turnbull replaced captain Harry Winter at half-time.
Both players are signed on deals until the summer of 2019 at Edgeley Park, with Gannon quick to add that both would be crucial to the club’s plans heading into the 2018/19 campaign.
“The issue with Sam and Paul has been when to reintroduce them and how long for. We always had the plan to replace Harry with Paul once we had a foothold on the game and once we’d trusted Harry to deal with the physical threat of their midfield early on.”
“We wanted to get Sam half an hour which we did, he got some really good crosses in and you could see that he’s really been working on the training ground stuff and applying it to the game and ended up with an assist.”
The afternoon proved an unfortunate one for the impressive Jason Oswell, who struck the crossbar and the post in search of a first league goal in 2018.
The former Newtown striker helped himself to 23 goals before Christmas for The Hatters, but has struggled to re-discover his scoring touch since the New Year; including a “rough” January for the 25-year-old, who drew the ire of manager Gannon.
But the 49-year-old admitted that his main striker had been “superb” in recent weeks with “a greater contribution to the team” – and Gannon added that the return to form of a number of his players was a promising sign as County head into their final eight games knowing that the play-off positions are now within touching distance.
“I was really pleased with Jason’s contribution.
“He’s been working incredibly hard for weeks now and was unfortunate not to score after hitting the crossbar and the post!
“Perhaps if we had another number nine in January when he was really tired, that would have benefited him and the team but he’s really back towards his best now.
“I’m delighted with the efforts of most of the lads, and if we can now just work on that extra touch of confidence for the likes of Jason and Darren to get them back in that rhythm they had earlier in the season then we’ll have a hell of a side with plenty of options as we head into that big final month with all to play for.”