Spirited Hatters
COUNTY chief Jim Gannon praised “the great spirit” shown by his side as The Hatters salvaged a lastgasp point in a fiery 1-1 draw with promotionchasing Brackley Town at Edgeley Park on Saturday.
Gannon was sent to the stands after an angry altercation with Brackley assistant Mark Noon late in the second half, before substitute Frank Mulhern flicked home a deft 94thminute header to keep County’s twelve-game unbeaten run intact.
In a rather tired affair at a blustery Edgeley Park, Kevin Wilkin’s Brackley had taken the lead via striker Lee Ndlovu’s closerange finish after a lengthy passing move from the visitors before Mulhern’s intervention deep into stoppage time kept The Hatters within touching distance of the chasing pack in the National League North.
And while Gannon, who was dismissed to the stands after clashing with Town assistant coach Noon, admitted he “hadn’t seen the equalis- ing goal”, the 50-year-old was quick to praise the resiliency of his in-form Hatters.
“I didn’t see the goal, I was still in the dressing room – but hopefully the lads have implemented what we work on in training with Frank running to the near post from the corner.
“We gave the ball away a lot and were too shaky for large parts of the game, but it shows the character of the lads to dig in and get a goal to continue this fine unbeaten run.”
With the away side leading 1-0 and County looking unlikely to test the visiting defence heading into the final ten minutes, Brackley winger Jimmy Armson ran the ball out of touch after the whistle had already been sounded for a County free-kick.
As Gannon ran to retrieve the ball from behind the Brackley dugout, he was left enraged when Brackley assistant boss Noon appeared to attempt to trip the Hatters chief .
Gannon, who was soon sent to the stands for his reaction in barging into Noon, was left unimpressed by what the Irishman felt was a theatrical fall to the turf by Noon.
“Their lad has kicked the ball away after the whistle had gone – not a million miles away, but enough to slow the game down. I’ve run off to get it, and their assistant stuck his foot out at me. I ran back to confront him and he went down.
“As I said to the referee, if somebody did that to you in the street they’d get more than a confrontation. So I’ll take my punishment, but I think from Brackley’s perspective, Kevin needs to look at his coaching staff as the coach involved is not a nice guy and kicked the whole thing off.
“I was just frustrated with the game and just couldn’t get the boys going. The fans did their best to get the players amped up but I think things just boiled over as people saw.”
County appeared to be slipping to a first defeat since September after Ndlovu’s second-half strike, and a second league home defeat against Wilkin’s Brackley in as many campaigns until Mulhern’s late header.