County’s ‘good to great’ quest
COUNTY boss Jim Gannon has challenged his newlook Hatters side to be relentless in The Hatters’ pursuit of greatness as the kick-off to the new National League campaign draws closer.
Gannon’s side eased to a third successive pre-season win with a 2-0 win over National League North side Curzon Ashton on Saturday, collating a third clean sheet on the bounce in the process – and the Hatters boss expressed his satisfaction with his side’s “solid” showing.
First-half goals from Alex Reid and Adam Thomas sealed the win over Steve Cunningham’s Tameside outfit, with Gannon ringing six changes to the side which started in a 2-0 win over Colne the weekend prior.
“We’re adding little bits with every game,” he said. “People can see when they watch us play how we’re looking to attack and how we’re looking to hurt teams, and everything is looking a bit more coached and organised.
“We’re a work in progress - it’s a relentless pursuit of winning games and always improving, but I’m pleased with where we are for the moment.
“We’re challenging the lads to go from good to great. No matter how old they are or where they’ve played, we’re challenging them to just keep adding things to their game and to keep improving. We saw some of those improvements (on Saturday), but we know we need to keep stepping it up and striving for greatness.
“There’s work to be done but I’m really pleased with the last few weeks, and as I say, we’ll keep sharpening up our focus over the next fortnight ahead of the season. We know who we’re facing first up, so we have to be ready with our own way of playing.
“We’re known as a side which gets better and better as the season goes on, and what we want to be doing now is obviously always keep improving, but to already be very good with the potential to keep getting better.
“We want to get stronger and stronger as the season goes on.
“What pleased me particularly was how all sixteen members of the squad looked capable of slotting in – it was great for Reidy and Adam Thomas to score, but then we’ve still got Nyal Bell leading the line and Richie Bennett coming on in the second half.”
One element of County’s performance which Gannon did identify as a weak spot on Saturday, however, was his side’s finishing – with Mark Kitching, Sam Minihan, Nyal Bell and Connor Jennings all spurning glorious chances throughout the afternoon for The Hatters to increase their lead.
Despite acknowledging his side’s need to “sharpen up”, however, Gannon did back his attackers to improve as pre-season rolls on.
“I might have to do the old Gary Megson trick when he managed us – a lot of shooting practice, and whenever you miss you have to do a lap of the pitch! Because we were quite wasteful.
“You do have to credit the lads for how we created those chances – and they’re all getting into positions to score. We’ll tidy that up, especially with full-time training. As we advance through preseason, I’d expect to see that really sharpening up.”
A number of Gannon’s changes for the win over Curzon came about due to some minor injuries within The Hatters camp throughout the week, with new boy Macauley Southam-Hales, defender Jamie Stott and midfielder Harvey Gilmour all sitting out of the victory as a precaution.
Gannon explained that whilst Gilmour’s injury may see the former Sheffield United midfielder missing out on the next few pre-season fixtures, defenders Southam-Hales and Stott would be in line for a return to action as County travelled to Guiseley on Tuesday evening.
“Harvey picked up a knock on the Friday,” said Gannon. “He was going to come into the side for the game as we’re really wanting to give the entire squad the chance to fight for their shirt. He twisted his ankle awkwardly – hopefully it’s a matter of days, but maximum a couple of weeks.
“Jamie and Macauley both trained well on Friday, and we’re confident that they’ll be fine this week, but we felt that Saturday was just a game too soon.
“It felt a little bit more like a matchday squad (for a league game) on Saturday, as we were able to bed in many of that full sixteen squad members.
“It’s now about getting ourselves right and ready for the season, and maybe adding one or two more. We’re still looking at that, and whether we do it now and bed them in in time for the season, or to wait and utilise the loan market, we’ll see. We’ve done well over the seasons, bringing in loans like Jamie Stott, Tom Walker and Devante Rodney, so we’ll see.”
County’s Tuesday night trip to Guiseley is expected to be followed up with a trip to National League North promotion hopefuls York City on Saturday (behind closed doors) as the National League season draws ever closer – with a long trip to Torquay United on the cards for the opening day (Sat 3rd Oct).
An Edgeley Park double-header follows that, with Halifax and Dover lying ahead on Tuesday 6th October and Saturday 10th respectively.
The Hatters also learned this week that they’ll be live on BT Sport for at least two fixtures in the first half of the campaign – firstly in a televised trip to Chesterfield on Saturday 17th October, before doing battle with Notts County on Wednesday 11th November, as the two National League title favourites go head-to-head in front of the TV cameras.