Success taking toll on County
JIM Gannon admitted that his County side “aren’t firing on all cylinders”, as The Hatters played out a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Maidstone Utd on Saturday.
Matty Warburton’s 25th goal of the season cancelled out Jake Cassidy’s early opener for the National League strugglers, as both sides made it into the hat for the last four of the FA Trophy, with the victors of Tuesday evening’s replay set to battle AFC Fylde in the semi-finals.
And, after County also had to fight hard to overcome Telford and Southport – both in a 3-2 scoreline – in the last seven days, Gannon admitted his squad were suffering from the demands of a gruelling National League North campaign.
“Maidstone have been quite respectful of how good a side we’ve been over the last few months, but any of our fans who’ve seen the last couple of our games would see that we’ve not been firing on all cylinders.”
“They’re a strong, physical side. We showed sparks but didn’t do enough to get the result on the day,” Gannon said.
“We’re on a fantastic run, and it does come at a cost after two really tough games like Telford and Southport.”
The build-up to the tie was overshadowed by a three-game touchline ban handed to Gannon on Friday evening by the FA, after a spat with Brackley Town’s assistant coach in a 1-1 draw in November.
The club were left unhappy by the governing body’s three0month delay in levelling a charge at Gannon, who was due to serve the second game of his ban in the Trophy replay at Maidstone as the Express went to print.
The Hatters chief successfully defended himself against what club officials saw privately as an ‘over-the-top’ charge of violent conduct, but was still hit with an improper conduct charge.
Gannon insisted the team’s preparation wasn’t affected by the furore.
“There was no problem with the preparation (given the touchline ban). The lads and staff were all fully prepared as usual.
“I always analyse myself first before anyone else, but I do think across the board we were a notch or two below where we should be with fatigue and energy levels.
“You could see a couple of the lads were tiring, but we’re not going to be hard on them after a fantastic season.”
County were forced into the gruelling Tuesday trip to Kent as neither side could force a breakthrough at Edgeley Park, with Gannon left to ponder a number of changes to his usual squad.
A number of part-time players such as Ben Hinchliffe and Matty Warburton were left to try and arrange time off from work commitments – but Gannon explained that, after Maidstone Utd swept aside a depleted Salford in the previous round, County would be fielding as strong a side as possible on the night.
“We’re not going to do what Salford did and send the academy lads, so to us this tie is very much alive,” he said. “The part-time lads have made provisional arrangements. If we were to miss one or two though, I wouldn’t see it as a negative, there would be that scope for rotation and for other lads to get some valuable minutes.
“We do have the chance for some of the squad players to get a game, and to rest some of the senior members ahead of Saturday. So it may actually be to our advantage to go there, make a few changes and keep everybody fresh.
“We prepared for a Tuesday replay given the turnaround times in this competition.
“We’ve made arrangements and considered the opportunities it gives us to freshen things up, and rest those affected by work,” Gannon said.
In league action, leaders Chorley slipped to a shock 1-0 home defeat to relegation-threatened Ashton United, leaving County level on points with the Magpies with the same number of games played.
Third-placed Spennymoor overcame Leamington 1-0 to move a point behind The Hatters with two games in hand – but in a tense title race, the North-East club visit Edgeley Park this coming weekend.
“At the moment, you would say it’s a three-way title race,” said Gannon.
“We know next Saturday is critically important and we do have one eye on that.
“This is the stage of the season where some sides at the bottom are hungrier for results than the top, and you can see that with the Chorley result.
“It’s all to play for, and we’re looking forward, with one eye on Saturday, to what will hopefully be a fantastic occasion at Edgeley Park.”