Exciting times ahead says Jim
HATTERS boss Jim Gannon claimed his side could look forward to an “exciting” New Year, as County brought their away campaign to an end for 2018 with a 1-1 draw at Alfreton.
Nyal Bell’s late leveller earned County a hardfought point at the Impact Arena on Saturday, after the hosts had spurned one penalty kick before successfully converting a remarkable second in five minutes through striker Reece Styche.
The battling point took County’s tally to seven points from their last three, after wins at Spennymoor and Ashton United on the previous two Tuesday evenings - with an impressive 1-0 win at neighbours Altrincham coming in the FA Trophy in between.
“Hopefully we can continue with this form and continue to be difficult to beat, and that will see us head into a promising and exciting New Year,” said Gannon. “I was disappointed with the penalties, because I thought both Frank (Mulhern) and Dan (Cowan) seemed to lose concentration - especially from Dan as a fullback, you’d expect better.
“Frank then goes and does exactly the same – we got away with the first one, but you just can’t do that. The referee couldn’t give them quickly enough but that’s no excuse.”
Despite the incredible double-penalty award, Bell salvaged a point for The Hatters – and Gannon was quick to heap praise on his “resilient” players.
A midweek league defeat at Blyth Spartans at the beginning of the month remains County’s only defeat in league competition since a September loss to Boston – and The Hatters now return to Edgeley Park, after a gruelling away treble yielded a “commendable” seven points.
“We deserved a goal based on the football we played, but it did take a couple of changes to get that. We deserved something from the game.
“I am actually really pleased with the point considering we had given them the opportunity to take all three. It also keeps Alfreton at arms length from us in the table.
“I’ve been a bit hard on the lads at times, but I have to give them great credit, because to come away from three away games with two wins and a draw is commendable.”
To add to the good news around the County camp last week, young defender Jamie Stott extended his stay at the club for another month.
The Oldham loanee has enjoyed two successful stints at Edgeley Park and, after extending the deal for a seemingly final time into the maximum three-month period, Gannon revealed yet more good news for The Hatters faithful.
“Jamie’s just turned 21, so we had to extend the loan as the youth loan expires. It’s also good as it’s effectively a new loan, so does allow us scope to extend this again after the one month expires in January.
“But we’ve got a great squad and a really fit bunch at the moment, so if we can just maintain our professionalism over this critical period, we know we’ll be really strong for the remainder of the campaign.”
Heading into the New Year, Gannon’s men sit in the play-off positions and on the cusp of a push into the top five of the table, albeit with a tough run of fixtures approaching against a number of fellow promotion-chasers.
And, with the end of the year upon us, the everpopular Hatters boss took the time to reflect on his side’s 2018 efforts.
“I think we’ve done really well, I think you can understand why I’ve signed the players I’ve signed. We’ve got good quality and good depth we knew some of the lads would need time to adapt but we’ve got a really good balance.
“We can look back at games like Bradford and Nuneaton where we’ve slipped up and conceded late goals to cost us points, but we can hopefully look back on those games and see that we’re always learning and always improving to ensure we move away from those kind of mistakes.
“If we can iron out those little things, you’re looking at the difference between a top-ten side and a side contending for the play-offs or the title.”