Gannon praises ‘pro’ approach
COUNTY boss Jim Gannon heaped praise on the professionalism of his side as The Hatters snatched a late 2-1 win in the FA Cup second Qualifying Round at high-flying South Shields on Saturday.
After falling behind to a first-half strike by Carl Finnigan, Gannon’s men fought back via goals either side of the interval by Sam Walker, and a lastminute winner by substitute Nyal Bell, to advance to a home tie with lowly Corby Town a week on Saturday.
“I’m really pleased,” said Gannon.
“It was such a tough ask, South Shields have invested well and are in fine form.
“We didn’t everything professionally, we travelled up together and had a pre-match meal and the preparation was perfect. It was a deserved win.”
The Hatters were led for large parts of the scrappy tie by the in-form Walker – who had earlier in the week revealed that claims from the South Shields camp that The Hatters were “running scared” of the Evo Stik Premier League leaders had “fuelled” County’s desire to win the game.
The experienced midfielder, who suffered a torrid first season at Edgeley Park last campaign, struggling for fitness before being loaned out to Curzon Ashton, bundled home the leveller before teeing up Bell for the stoppage-time winner – and Gannon was quick to express his delight at the 29-year-old’s performance.
“I’m delighted for Sam,” said Gannon.
“It was a tough season last year for him, and he’s in a highly demanding environment, but he’s risen to the challenge this year and been great for us.
“The stats don’t lie, he’s the hardest working player and I’ve said in front of the lads how important he is to us.
“He comes in to training all the time, even the extra sessions, looking to work hard and so it’s really paying for him.”
Prior to the high-profile clash, Gannon moved to bring in former Hatter Elliot Osborne on a loan deal until the New Year from struggling Southport – with the attacking midfielder linked several times with a move to Edgeley Park before rejoining last week.
And the County chief admitted that, despite Osborne not taking part in a training session with his new team-mates before the cup tie, it was never a gamble to bring the former Fleetwood man on at half-time.
“They’d done their homework and tried to get down our right to force Darren back and make us more defensive, but Elliot coming on gave us that extra creativity, energy and threat to get us back up the pitch,” he said.
“He linked well with the strikers, as did Darren who worked extremely hard trying to play in two positions, and the side have got their reward in the end for working hard.
“It wasn’t a gamble to introduce Elliot, because we brought Elliot on knowing what he’s about. It was an easy change to make, and it paid off straight away with that presence on headers and winning loose balls.”
Gannon also seemed to fire a warning shot at under-performing members of his squad, explaining that he demanded “more than just goals” when it came to his players’ impact on games.
Matty Warburton, having struck 20 goals in his debut season with The Hatters last year, has been dropped to the bench in recent weeks after struggling to rediscover his blistering form, whilst attacker Connor Dimaio was replaced by Osborne at the interval – despite both players leading the scoring charts at Edgeley Park.
“That’s the challenge for the lads, I’m not bothered about just goals, it’s the overall contribution. Matty and Connor have scored three each, but it’s the all-round input we’re looking at and it’s going to be a challenge for some of the lads to step up.”