Sub pairing tee
THREE second-half goals were enough to ease resurgent County into the Final Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, with a 3-0 win over Evo Stik Premier South side Corby Town at Edgeley Park on Saturday.
After a goalless – and rather flat – first half, The Hatters had substitutes Matty Warburton and Frank Mulhern to thank for the winning goals as Jim Gannon’s men set up a derby with neighbours Altrincham for a spot in the first round proper.
With County amidst a run of four unbeaten, including three wins on the bounce in all competitions, the hosts returned to Edgeley Park action for the first time in a month, sticking with Gannon’s favoured 4-2-3-1 formation.
Defender Jamie Stott and winger Adam Thomas replaced Sam Minihan and eventual goalscorer Warburton, both of whom were included on the seven-player bench.
The Hatters were to have no fewer than twenty one attempts on goal during the rather one-sided affair, and the first of those arrived inside two minutes when Darren Stephenson’s shot from the right was blocked by defender Miles Smith.
Five minutes later, Smith’s fellow defender Gary Mulligan got in the way of an Elliot Osborne effort on the edge of the box that the visiting captain deflected into the arms of goalkeeper Dan George.
County’s pressure continued, albeit without much doing in front of goal. Midfielder Sam Walker, a contender for County’s best performer of the campaign so far, drilled wide of the right post from distance and Osborne saw another shot smothered by George, before the Steelmen stopper denied Nyal Bell at point-blank range around the half-hour mark.
Bell’s near-miss was met with a groan from the anticipating home support, with Gannon admitting afterwards that “patience will be key” with County’s young number nine, who was replaced at half-time by Mulhern.
Warburton entered the fray earlier than expected, having been introduced when midfielder Jordan Keane hobbled off after only 25 minutes.
Grabbing 21 goals last season, Warburton has struggled to emulate that form so far this campaign, but the substitute twice went close ahead of halftime, courtesy of one low shot that fizzed shy of the right post and another that George did well to save with his legs.
The Hatters made a second change upon the resumption – replacing the booked Bell with Mulhern, who, within five minutes, fired a shot across goal and past the near upright after Walker had recycled his own short corner from the right.
Another Walker corner, two minutes later, found the head of Ash Palmer – only for the skipper’s goal-bound effort to be met in kind with a header off the line by Sam Warburton.
But the pressure finally paid off with two goals in four minutes, as Warburton flicked home into the far corner from a Darren Stephenson cross on 55 minutes, as the dam finally broke in front of an expectant Cheadle End.
As the celebrations from the opening goal had just subdued, Mulhern was released by Man of the Match Scott Duxbury, running from almost the halfway line to slide classily past the outstretched arms of George.
George had rather better fortune with two further Mulhern shots that he kept out on account of their lack of pace – and, in between those, Corby’s Number One did well to parry beyond the right