Frustration as Hatters are held
COUNTY boss Jim Gannon was left to rue a “frustrating afternoon”, as The Hatters’ incredible winning run came to an end with a 1-1 draw at Guiseley on Saturday.
A second-half leveller by the hosts cancelled our Darren Stephenson’s firsthalf opener, resulting in a share of the spoils for both sides in Yorkshire – keeping County three points off National League North leaders Chorley, who fell to a surprise 5-3 defeat at Southport.
“It is a frustrating afternoon for us,” he said. “That’s not to say that we deserved to win the game, but I went in at half-time frustrated that, even though we were leading, we hadn’t taken our chances to give ourselves some breathing space and a chance to win the game.
“I was a bit disappointed and I’ve got a lot to think about, because there were a few players not implementing what we work on in training, and a few players looking fatigued.
“Guiseley posed a few questions which we didn’t have the answers to or didn’t overcome.”
After conceding the equaliser, the in-form Hatters had to contend with a barrage of pressure from the hosts – who are still battling to remain in the division after dropping down from the National League last season.
The point was eventually secured for the away side, who ended the tie with both leading goalscorers – Matty Warburton and Frank Mulhern – replaced midway through the half; and Gannon was quick to explain the reasoning behind the changes.
“There were a number of reasons. Neither of them looked like scoring. Frank in particular looked a bit ragged and wasn’t getting us up the pitch.
“We just didn’t look that much of a threat on the day, so we changed it with putting Darren up top and Matty on the left - the problem then is that Matty couldn’t deal with the run from their full-back, and we’ve conceded a goal.
“Unfortunately we’ve had problems consistently with conceding goals down our left. We conceded two at Harrogate like that, and another on Saturday.”
“I have to weigh up if the left-sided attacker isn’t contributing much in attack or defence, whether we need to change the shape.
“Sam Walker was immense in shielding the defence, but there were gaps on the left, and we will get that when we have a full-back whose instinct is to play on the front foot rather than the back foot.”
The tie was played in windy conditions at Nethermoor, with The Hatters largely on the back foot for the majority of the second half playing against the bitter winds.
But, whilst admitting that the conditions did have an impact on his side’s “below-par” performance, Gannon added that the battling point was a “credit” to his players, who extended their unbeaten run to fifteen games.
“It was very difficult conditions to get out of our own half in, and I think it did probably have an effect on the game. You can see that also around other games in the league, where sides were 4-0 up at half-time.”
“They put us under pressure and put a lot of balls under the crossbar, and we weathered that storm well which is credit to the defensive unit.”
The Hatters will now play host to Runcorn Town on Wednesday evening in the Cheshire Senior Cup, with Gannon suggesting that a number of senior players of his squad would be afforded the opportunity to rest after a tough run of fixtures.