Rusk impressed by resilient side
COUNTY boss Simon Rusk praised the “resiliency” of his players, as The Hatters bounced back from midweek defeat to battle to a deserved 1-0 win over Yeovil Town at Edgeley Park on Saturday night.
Alex Reid’s thirteenth goal of the campaign was enough to give County all three points over The Glovers in front of the BT Sport cameras on Saturday evening, with Rusk’s side moving up to third in the National League with games in hand on leaders Torquay Utd.
The Hatters did see out a late spell of pressure from Darren Searlle’s men, who came into the tie on the back of an upturn in fortunes, with four wins in five for the Somerset outfit prior to their visit to Edgeley Park.
“The resiliency from the lads really pleased me.”
“They put us under pressure towards the end. When we don’t put the game to bed with our big moments, you know you’ll have to ride a storm at some point - so credit to the lads to see it out and get the clean sheet,” said Rusk.
After a bright start to the affair for County, Reid capped a ‘route one’ move as he latched onto Ben Hinchliffe’s long clearance following some poor Yeovil defending and flicked cleverly past Glovers stopper Adam Smith.
County did create further opportunities, but Rusk reflected on the nature of the winning goal as a rare “direct” move for the hosts.
“We had some good moments on the ball, but it was a direct moment which brought the goal. Great composure from Alex to finish it off, and he also had some real hardworking aspects to his game as well alongside Richie Bennett.
“The defence was solid, and it had to be. There are no easy three points, and you have to find a way sometimes which we did on the night. Teams will always have spells, but you have to focus on the fact that we’ve seen it out well.”
The former Brighton Under 23’s boss did concede that his side would need some work on finishing as The Hatters saw big chances come and go for Connor Jennings, Jordan Williams and John Rooney either side of the interval – but the 39-year-old insisted he “won’t criticise” his side following the hard-fought three points.
“Of course, the finishing is something (to work on). These are the moments you have to work on. Our energy was good, and our build-up play was good, but you just need that composure to finish things off at times.
“But I certainly won’t criticise the lads after a massive effort to get the win.”
Rusk opted for four changes to the side which started in Tuesday’s contentious defeat to Sutton Utd at Edgeley Park – albeit with Mark Kitching and Jordan Keane both missing out through injury on the day.
Former York City man Rusk did suggest that both Keane and Kitching would only be short-term absences, but acknowledged the need for “freshness” in a hectic league campaign.
“Keeping the lads fresh is obviously something we’re conscious of. I’ve got a good problem in the dressing room because they all want to play every week, and that’s how I want it. But the ‘buy-in’ from the players since the Woking game has been brilliant for me, and the message to them has been that we’re all together as a group and we’ll need all the lads at different stages through the season.
“We’ll have good days and bad days, but the key is that we’re together to get through them, and that’s certainly been the case since I’ve been here.”
‘We’ll have good and bad days but the key is we’re together to get through them’