Hatters on the rise in play-off pursuit
THE only way is up – that was the message from County boss Dave Challinor to his side, as The Hatters secured a big three points at Harrogate on Saturday to further boost the club’s play-off ambitions.
After moving into League Two’s top seven for the first time last week, County remained there over the weekend after a deserved 1-3 win at Harrogate Town at Wetherby Road, via goals from Myles Hippolyte, Tanto Olaofe and Will Collar.
Collar’s second-half header sealed the win for Challinor’s men after firsthalf strikes from Hippolyte and striker Olaofe – and the Hatters boss was full of praise for his side’s first-half showing in particular.
“It’s a big result for us. It was a brilliant performance from us, especially in the first half, which went a long way to us winning the game,” said Challinor.
“The first half was up there with the best performances we have produced this season. We got our foot on the ball, pulled them into positions they didn’t want to be in, did the basics really well, won our individual battles, created opportunities – there were only positives from our first half.”
After racing into a twogoal lead in that dominant first half via Hippolyte and a first goal for Olaofe since his January move from Millwall, County were briefly pegged back through an unfortunate Ben Hinchliffe own goal after the break.
A Harrogate cross from the left was spilled into his own goal by the recordbreaking Hatters stopper, who was making a 307th appearance for County – a club record for appearances from a goalkeeper.
Talismanic midfielder Collar nodded home from substitute Ryan Rydel’s cross to stop any Harrogate hopes of a comeback in their track – but Challinor still warned his players over a ‘complacent’ second-half.
“I was disappointed with our second half performance,” he said.
“I challenged the players at half-time to replicate that first half over ninety minutes, and we didn’t do that. On another day, we could have come unstuck.
“We have to be in control of that, and we have to learn from that.
“When this occurs again, and we’re in a good position at half-time, we can remember Saturday and what we did and didn’t do. That will make us better in future.”
New boy Olaofe earned his first start for the club following injury to captain Paddy Madden, who Challinor confirmed will be missing for a “few weeks” with a calf injury.
Olaofe, however, bundled home his first for his new side to double County’s lead in Yorkshire, whilst fellow new signing Jack Stretton also made an appearance from the bench in the second half after joining from Derby County in January.
Challinor, meanwhile, hailed the contribution of the new faces and the importance of depth in the County camp.
“We knew we had a different dynamic about us on the day, with Tanto in for Paddy,” he said.
“Naturally, the threat in behind was something they would always be concerned about. There was an opportunity right on half-time for Tanto to get in behind, and I told the lads at half-time that we would get those chances in the second half as Harrogate pushed.
“I was really pleased with all of the goals today. Tanto got himself a scruffy one, which will be great for him, and that helps us on the way to a big three points which keeps us in a good place.
“Paddy tweaked his calf last week in training. We had him scanned, and it isn’t too serious. It’ll be two weeks, maybe three at the absolute maximum. But when you view that as six games, it sounds worse! What it does do is show the depth we have, and I appreciate that. To bring Tanto and Jack in to the squad in January gives us real quality in important areas.”
Despite appearing to solidify their position in the play-off positions with that win at Harrogate, Challinor knows that it remains “awfully tight” in the fourth tier, with The Hatters currently only keeping Bradford City out of the top seven on goal difference.
County were due to host Crawley Town on Tuesday evening as the Express went to print before a potentially pivotal home clash against automatic promotion-chasing Stevenage on Saturday – and Challinor has laid down the gauntlet to his side to not relinquish their position for the remainder of the campaign.
“It is tight in the table. From around third down to fifteenth in the table, there are not many points in it,” he said.
“We just have to take care of our own business, and if other results go in our favour, it’s a bonus.
“We’ve got ourselves into the play-off places, and our aim is to pick off the teams above us and make sure we don’t drop out of them again. It isn’t going to be easy, and we will drop points, but if we can take care of our own results as best we can, we feel we have a strong chance of success this season.”