Silkmen rewarded with away Cup tie
M‘The FA Cup is different to the league, so it’s a different type of game’
ACCLESFIELD FC have been handed an away tie in the Emirates FA Cup Second Qualifying Round at either Shepshed Dynamo or Coalville Town.
The two sides were set to face each other in a First Qualifying Round Replayon Tuesday evening, after a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
The game will be played on Saturday 17th September.
Neil Kengni’s goal proved enough to secure safe passage through for the Silkmen and while boss Danny Whitaker felt
certain areas of his team’s play were disappointing, he felt it was a well deserved win.
“There were certain moments in the game where we did look threatening – it was just decision making in certain areas of the pitch that was lacking from an offensive perspective,” he said.
“All in all it was a really good contest. They came at us, which we expected. The pitch was very lively, which we’d spoken about before the game – the need to take an extra touch where normally you don’t need to, just to take the bounce out of the ball.
“We knew they would be in our faces, onto second balls, playing it in behind and getting down the sides of us and that was exactly the case.
“You go into every game with winning the intended outcome and you want a performance to go with it. We had that in moments but decision making really let us down in certain areas so from that perspective it was disappointing because we’ve been on a good run.
“The FA Cup is different to the league, so it’s a different type of game. You’re looking at it and thinking ‘well come on lads, let’s really get at them, they are from a league below, don’t take them lightly but if we stick to our principles in and out of possession we should be no match for them.’”
Whitaker brought back experienced heads Neil Danns and Tom Clare for the cup tie with Nicky Maynard and Alex Curran rested.
“It was the same formation we deployed last week against Widnes,” said Whitaker.
“Tom coming in for Nicky (Maynard) adds a big presence, he’s a different type of player. Dannsy coming in for Alex Curran you wouldn’t say is weakening the team in any way, shape of form. Alex has played a lot of minutes since the start of the season and there have been times when we’ve wanted to bring him off but we haven’t been able to. From that perspective it was really good to be able to rest him and the same with Nicky – he’d been carrying a little thigh issue.
“It’s important we look after players when we can because we’ve got such a good group, a good squad.”
Whitaker felt his side were a little slow out of the starting blocks at the start of the second period but said generally his squad were strong finishers.
“I thought we started (the second half) a little bit slow if I’m honest and I don’t know why, because we’d told them a few home truths about getting closer, putting pressure on the ball,” he said.
“It’s a man for man game, you have to compete and win your battles and look to play when you can. We didn’t want to overplay in our defensive third with the pitch being lively, we didn’t want to encourage anything. But the movement was lacking in certain areas.
“We have a very professional group of players who all look after themselves and with the extra training that we have, three mornings a week, when you take that into consideration it just adds to it really.
“That extra training, extra fitness and the lads looking after themselves the way that they do because they all want to be professional footballers, first and foremost. With that mentality, that attitude, it’s going to stand them in good stead and also us as a football club because we have players who really want to progress.”