Challinor’s focus purely on Hatters
ONE point closer – that was the verdict from County boss Dave Challinor this week, as his title-chasing Hatters were held to a 1-1 draw by Harrogate Town at Edgeley Park on Saturday.
Connor Lemonheigh Evans cancelled out Dean Cornelius’ early opener for the visitors, with both goals coming in the first half and the hosts then unable to break down a Harrogate side worthy of their point on the road.
Cornelius’ tap-in to an empty net had capped a fine Harrogate move to open the scoring after a quarter of an hour in SK3, with Challinor of the view that his side’s “poor start” to proceedings cost the league leaders all three points.
“Our start to the game ultimately cost us the game,” he said.
“We didn’t do enough to deserve all three points, and we didn’t do enough in the final third to win the game regardless of that.
“You have to take your point and move on, and we’ll do just that.”
Wins elsewhere for Mansfield Town and Barrow saw them move into second and third respectively, with The Stags just four points behind tabletopping County.
The good news came in the form of defeats for Wrexham and MK Dons, whilst automatic promotion hopefuls Crewe Alexandra were held to a 0-0 draw with Tranmere Rovers.
All of that keeps The Hatters four points clear of second, and more crucially, seven points clear of the play-off spots.
“I’m not too fussed about what goes on elsewhere,” said Challinor.
“We have a points target in mind to achieve what we want to achieve, and we want to get to that target as soon as possible.
“Results elsewhere don’t affect that.”
Despite the recent returns from injury of Myles Hippolyte and Antoni Sarcevic, however, County and Challinor were dealt another cruel blow on Saturday with a serious knee injury to the unfortunate Macauley Southam-Hales.
The popular Welshman went down after appearing to stand awkwardly on the ball during a Harrogate attack, with the rightback stretchered off the field and spending Saturday evening receiving treatment at a local hospital.
The former Fleetwood Town man had only just returned from a broken foot absence to star in last week’s 1-5 win at Doncaster Rovers for The Hatters.
With fellow right-back Kyle Knoyle also expected to be out for the remainder of the campaign after a sickening head injury on New Year’ Day, deadline day signing Lewis Cass now looks set for regular football at Edgeley Park in that position.
“It doesn’t look good on Macca,” said Challinor.
“He’s been at the hospital and will no doubt be scanned. It’s a knee problem - I’d be speculating as to what it is exactly, but it looks significant and I’d suggest it’ll be months out rather than weeks.
“Everybody is gutted for Macca, but the positive news is that we were able to bring in Lewis Cass on Thursday.
“Although we didn’t want it to be in these circumstances, it was important to add more depth in that right-back position and unfortunately with Macca’s injury, it’s shown to be a good thing that we could do that deal.”
Saturday’s point, whilst not the maximum haul that County had hoped for, does keep The Hatters in a favourable position to go on and seal automatic promotion to League One this season.
Up next comes a visit to Grimsby Town, a side who perennially cause The Hatters problems on the road, before a mouthwatering Cheshire derby next Tuesday evening against promotion-chasing Crewe Alexandra at Edgeley Park.
“We’d have loved to have been three points closer to our target, but we’re a point closer and we’ll take that,” said Challinor.
“There are tough games and tough tests ahead, but I would wager that the sides we will be facing will be saying just the same about having to play ourselves - and we have to embrace that.”